Rita's Story
by Rita-LaShette
Summary: I wrote this AGES ago. It's not fully finished, nor will it be (probably). Focuses on Rita LaShette and her role in Fox McCloud's life and the StarFox team.
1. Part One

Rita's Story: Fire, Ice, and She Who Dreamith of Life  
  
By Rita LaShette (a.k.a. Michaella "Kyla" DeYoung)  
  
~*~  
  
"He's going to look just like his father." Said Peppy Hare, looking down at the  
  
four day old Fox McCloud. Vixy McCloud smiled as she rubbed her newborn son's ears.  
  
"Don't insult the poor kid. He can't defend himself yet!" laughed James McCloud  
  
as he took his son from Vixy.  
  
"James!" his wife chided. Peppy just shook his head and laughed. James was a  
  
very handsome fox, though he didn't like to admit it.  
  
Fox continued to be the center of attention for the next hour or so. As is started to  
  
get late James took his son upstairs to the nursery for the night.  
  
James had been in the nursery for about five minutes, when someone began to  
  
pound on the front door.  
  
Vixy sighed. "I hope that whoever that is out there doesn't knock the door in  
  
before I get there." She half-ran to get to the door.  
  
"Sounds like they're being chased by the living-dead." Commented Peppy.  
  
The banging stopped as Vixy reached the door. "Hello?" she said as she opened  
  
the door. She looked out into the night, but no one was there. As she turned to close the  
  
door she heard a small noise like a squeak. She looked down at the front step, where the  
  
sound had come from.  
  
"James! JAMES!" she screamed.  
  
James and Peppy came running. "What's wrong?" James asked his hysterical wife.  
  
Vixy bent down and scooped up the loosely wrapped bundle that was on the step.  
  
"Look!" she held it out so her husband and Peppy could see what it was.  
  
"Holy sh." James stared down at the baby vixen who was now nestled in Vixy's  
  
arms. After a moment her gave a nervous laugh. "You would think that this is something  
  
that only happens in cheesy movies and bad novels."  
  
Peppy just stared, wide-eyed, at the tiny vixen. James absent-mindedly closed the  
  
door, as all three stood silently looking at the baby. The silence was broken when Fox  
  
began to cry.  
  
"Peppy, call the doctor." Ordered James as he ran to calm Fox.  
  
Vixy sat down in a chair, and began to remove the ragged and dirty blanket that  
  
covered the baby. The girl was very small, even for a baby. She already had hair, it was  
  
the reddest hair that Vixy had ever seen, and it made the baby's orange fur look pale in  
  
comparison. She had white fur from the top of her muzzle, down her chest, to just  
  
between her legs and on the tip of her tail. The fur around her upper eyelids was also  
  
white.  
  
The baby opened one ice-blue eye to look up at Vixy. She made a small  
  
squeaking noise, then she gave a feeble cry.  
  
Peppy could be heard arguing with the doctor over the phone in the kitchen.  
  
James came downstairs and stood next the chair where his wife sat. "She looks like a  
  
newborn." He said looking at the girl in Vixy's lap. Fox wiggled in his father's arms and  
  
began to cry again.  
  
"I don't think he likes the competition." Said Peppy, entering the room. "The  
  
doctor said to take her to the hospital's ER. He'll meet you there."  
  
"In a minute." Vixy picked up the baby girl and headed for the nursery.  
  
"What?" said James and Peppy in unison.  
  
"She hasn't been fed. She's going to need to eat soon." Vixy's voice left no room  
  
for any argument. "And, she need something decent to wear instead of this ratty thing." ~*~ Fifteen minutes later, Peppy held the content baby girl (who was now wearing one  
  
of Fox's Arwing print pajamas) as James maneuvered the car into a parking space. Vixy  
  
held Fox, and James took the girl as they walked into the ER, where the doctor was  
  
waiting for them.  
  
"So this is the baby?" he asked, taking the girl from James.  
  
"Yeah." Said James as he quickly took her away from the doctor.  
  
Vixy kicked his ankle. "Getting a little over-protective, are we?"  
  
"Hey! At least I'm not the one who." he was cut off as the doctor cleared his  
  
throat. ~*~ The doctor stared at the computer read-out. "She seems to be healthy, but her  
  
mother probably didn't take very good care of herself during the pregnancy. You've  
  
definitely got a survivor there, but she'll probably have stunted growth."  
  
"You mean she'll be a runt?" interrupted James.  
  
"Not necessarily." Answered the doctor. "Small, but not a runt." He looked at the  
  
read-out again. "I ran a DNA test on her."  
  
"And?" asked both James and Vixy.  
  
"Nothing. No matches. Nothing's even close. No mother. No father." He set the  
  
read-out down. "I think that she's most likely the child of some homeless drifter, who  
  
either wanted her to have a chance at life, or didn't want to bother with her."  
  
"Could it be possible that someone. scrambled. her DNA?" asked James. DNA  
  
scrambling had been developed about 5 years earlier, but was easy to detect so it was  
  
hard to use for criminal purposes. It was also still in the developmental stage.  
  
"A DNA scramble would show up in the test. You still couldn't tell who the  
  
parents are, but you would know that someone's trying to hide something."  
  
James looked down at Fox and the girl, who were both in his arms now. He didn't  
  
understand how someone could just abandon their own child like that. He smiled as Fox  
  
reached out and tried to grab the girl's nose, only to have the girl grab his instead. Fox  
  
snorted, and she let go. "The ladies are already after you, Fox." Said James. "In another  
  
18 years you're gonna have to beat them off with a stick." Both babies looked up at  
  
James. Fox made a face, and the girl let out a gentle coo like all baby's make. He laughed.  
  
"So, Vixy, what do we do?" he looked up at his wife, who had a smug look on her  
  
face.  
  
Vixy smiled. "Well." ~*~  
  
"Ack!" Vixy stood in the middle of the living room trying to get both of the kits  
  
into one place. Fox was exploring under the coffee table, and Rita (the vixen who had  
  
been left on the doorstep) was crawling toward the kitchen.  
  
"It's so much easier to keep track of them when they're not mobile." She muttered  
  
as she picked up Fox and went to grab Rita. The vixen giggled as Vixy scooped her up  
  
with her free arm. "You seem to think this is fun." Both of the kits giggled as she carried  
  
them up to the nursery.  
  
She set Fox down on the floor so she could change Rita's jumper. The tiny vixen  
  
squirmed as Vixy tried to put her arm into the jumper's sleeve. "Maa." protested Rita.  
  
"I know, I know. You don't like having your clothes changed. You're definitely  
  
going to be a tomboy when you get older." Vixy finally managed to get the jumper onto  
  
the squirming kit.  
  
She felt a tug at her skirt. She looked down to see Fox standing, clinging to her  
  
leg. He looked up at her and whimpered. "MAA!" screamed Rita.  
  
Fox tugged harder at Vixy's skirt and whimpered again. Vixy sighed. "One's  
  
talking and the other one's walking." The two kits had been doing this for about a week  
  
and a half. The doctor had told them that Fox would probably be the one to walk first  
  
because he was a lot stronger than Rita was, but he was surprised that Rita was starting to  
  
talk before she'd begun attempting to walk.  
  
Fox let go of his mother's leg and took a few steps before losing his balance and  
  
sitting down with a small thump. "Still not getting very far, huh?" She picked him up and  
  
set him in the crib next to Rita.  
  
"Faas!" cooed the girl as she rolled over to Fox. He grabbed her nose. Both kits  
  
giggled as she returned the gesture. .  
  
"I'll still don't know why you two do that." Vixy smiled down at the kits. The  
  
nursery door opened a bit and James poked his head into the room.  
  
"Not asleep yet?" He asked his wife.  
  
"Nope. Rita's still being difficult about having her clothes changed." James put his  
  
arm around Vixy and kissed her forehead.  
  
Rita let go of Fox's nose when she saw James. "Daa!" James tickled Fox and he  
  
let go of Rita's nose.  
  
"Why do they do that?" he tickled Fox some more. He stopped tickling the kit and  
  
Fox crawled over to Rita and curled up next to her. Rita yawned and curled up so that her  
  
head rested on Fox. "Now that's cute." James watched the kits as they fell asleep. ~*~ Rita sat next to Fox on the living room floor. She watched Pigma though narrow  
  
suspicious eyes. Pigma was sitting on the couch talking with Peppy and James. He was  
  
also stuffing his face with food. Fox didn't like being ignored by Rita, so he decided to  
  
grab her nose to get her attention. She didn't move.  
  
Fox let go and whimpered at her. She narrowed her eyes even more at Pigma.  
  
James had been watching the kits out of the corner of his eye. "She doesn't seem to like  
  
you much, Pigma."  
  
Pigma snorted as he stuffed more food into his mouth. "Suspicious little thing  
  
ain't she? Probably gonna grow up to be one of those annoying old bags that nag at you  
  
constantly."  
  
James narrowed his eyes at his friend and wingman. "She not normally like this."  
  
Pigma leaned closer to James to grab a bag of chips. "DAA!!" shrieked Rita.  
  
"Nope. She definitely doesn't like you." James got up and picked up the upset  
  
vixen. He sat down on the floor next to Fox, who crawled into his lap next to Rita. Fox  
  
then gave Pigma a dirty look.  
  
Peppy laughed. "I don't either one of them likes you much."  
  
Pigma shrugged and reached for another bag of chips that were next to Peppy.  
  
"Pebbie!" yelled Rita as Pigma got closer to Peppy.  
  
James began to laugh. "She seems to be a tad bit over-protective." Peppy handed  
  
the bag of chips to Pigma.  
  
"PEBBIE!" Rita yelled louder. Pigma was beginning to find Rita's behavior  
  
funny, and he decided to have a little fun with her. He got up and picked up Fox.  
  
"Well, at least you're a quiet one!" Pigma cooed at him. Fox wrinkled his nose at  
  
the swine, and Pigma laughed.  
  
Rita was beginning to tremble in James's lap. "Pud Fas dowd!" yelled the tiny  
  
vixen. The adults stared at her.  
  
Peppy broke the silence. "I didn't think that they could put sentences together at  
  
that age." Pigma laughed again. James just stared at her.  
  
"Riyah." Said Fox, squirming in Pigma's grasp. Vixy poked her head into the  
  
room.  
  
"They're both talking now!" she had a huge smile on her face as she came the rest  
  
of the way into the room.  
  
Rita was getting very red in the face by this time. "PUT. FOX. DOWN!!!" she  
  
screamed again. Pigma almost dropped Fox in his surprise. James's mouth hung open as  
  
he stared at the girl. Peppy and Vixy just stood in wide-eyed shock.  
  
Fox squirmed away as Pigma placed him on the floor.  
  
Rita crawled out of James's lap and over to where Pigma stood. She glared up at  
  
him, then growled as she bit his ankle.  
  
Pigma screamed and she let go.  
  
Rita made small spitting noises as she crawled back over to Fox. He had a look of  
  
disgust on his face as he stared up at the still screaming Pigma. Rita butted at him with  
  
her head and Fox rolled onto his back. She curled up half on top of him in a protective  
  
manner.  
  
Pigma stopped screaming and gawked at the kits. "What in the."  
  
Vixy clapped her hands. "Oh, how cute!"  
  
James stared up at his wife. Slowly he began to smile. "I guess Fox won't have to  
  
beat girls off with a stick when he's older. They'll be lucky if they get past Rita."  
  
"Mine." Said Rita as if confirming James's statement.  
  
James started to laugh. Peppy just shook his head and smiled. ~*~ The teacher glared down at Fox and Rita, then she focused her stare on James  
  
McCloud. "So you're telling me that these two are both your children, but the girl isn't  
  
related?"  
  
James sighed and crossed his arms. "That's correct. She was abandoned on the day  
  
she was born, so my wife and I took her in as our own."  
  
The teacher made a face. "Then why didn't you adopt her?" her voice had a  
  
condescending tone to it which was beginning to make James angry.  
  
He sighed through his teeth. "We didn't adopt her, because we had a feeling that it  
  
would be better if we didn't." the teacher gave a smug smile. James frowned at her and  
  
quickly added, "Not that it means we don't love her, because we do. Legally my daughter  
  
or not she will always be my little girl." He gave the teacher a really nasty look that  
  
wilted her smug look.  
  
"Just out of curiosity, where did you come up with her name?" asked the teacher,  
  
who was now a little flustered.  
  
"Rita Vixy LaShette." Said James. "Rita is after two things; the Terran actress  
  
Rita Hayworth, and the Beatles song 'Lovely Rita'. Vixy after my wife. And LaShette was  
  
just a name my best friend came up with at random. He's a telepath and thought that he  
  
was picking up. signals. or something like that." he trailed off. Explaining how  
  
they'd come up with Rita's last name was not easy. In fact it was just plain confusing.  
  
They were going to give her the last name of McCloud, but Peppy had felt  
  
something strong. He couldn't explain it, after all he was a telepath not a psychic. But this  
  
urge had been really strong, and he felt that it was telling him that the girl should be  
  
called LaShette.  
  
After a little researching he found out that LaShette wasn't a common name in  
  
Lylat, or anywhere else for that matter. In fact it was an ancient Cornerian phrase that  
  
could be loosely translated as 'fire and ice'. James said it fit because of her 'fiery' red hair  
  
and her ice-blue eyes.  
  
So they named her LaShette. Though no one could figure out if there was a  
  
reference in the name other than to the color of her hair and eyes. ~*~ Ms. Hotohori, the teacher whose class Fox and Rita had been assigned to, pointed  
  
to a chair. "Rita, you can sit next to Katt." The pink kitten smiled at the vixen. The  
  
teacher pointed to a chair on the opposite side of the table next to a gray puppy. "Fox,  
  
you'll sit next to Bill." The boys exchanged glances.  
  
Rita and Katt were already chatting away excitedly, ignoring the boys on the other  
  
side of the table. Bill perked up an ear and began to wag his tail. "Hi, I'm Bill!"  
  
"I'm Fox." The boys began to talk. Soon the girls joined into their conversation  
  
(well, what you'd call a conversation if you were a 5 year-old). By the time lunchtime  
  
came it was apparent that the four were already good friends. ~*~ James sat across the kitchen table from his long time friend, Beltino Toad.  
  
Beltino's son Slippy sat next to his father. Blueprints were spread over the table in front  
  
of James. The sounds of Fox, Rita, Katt, and Bill playing in the backyard drifted in  
  
through the open window.  
  
He pointed to a section of the prints. "So this is where the bridge is? And the  
  
living quarters are here?" he said pointing to a different section.  
  
"Yep." Beltino continued explaining parts of the blue prints of what would be  
  
the Great Fox. Slippy sighed and stared out the window to where the other kids were  
  
playing, while the adults talked.  
  
Rita burst in the back door with Katt close behind her. Spying Slippy staring out  
  
of the window they walked over to the table. Rita leaned on the table, upsetting some of  
  
the blueprints. "Wanna play?" she asked Slippy. Katt nodded encouragement and smiled  
  
broadly.  
  
Slippy looked up at his father. "Go ahead." Beltino told him. The girls half-  
  
dragged Slippy out of the house to where the boys were waiting. Soon the sounds of kids  
  
playing continued, only they were a little louder than they had been before.  
  
James and Beltino continued to discuss the plans, only stopping to make minor  
  
changes here and there.  
  
By the time they had finished going over the plans it had become rather late.  
  
Katt's mom had picked her up a few hours ago, and Bill's parents had just left with him.  
  
Fox, Rita and Slippy were asleep on the couch in the living room.  
  
Beltino picked up his sleeping son. "I'm glad they got along so well. I was afraid  
  
that Slippy would be to shy to play with them." James just smiled as he tucked a blanket  
  
around the two sleeping kits.  
  
"That girl is different from other kids." Beltino said suddenly.  
  
James gave his friend a questioning look. "What do you mean?"  
  
The frog shrugged. "I don't really know. something about her just feels.  
  
different." he trailed off.  
  
James was silent for a moment. "I've felt that too." he said in a barely audible  
  
whisper. "But, it doesn't feel like it's a bad kind of different." ~*~ James watched as Rita knocked down yet another opponent. The kick boxing  
  
instructor sighed next to him. "I've never seen anything like this before. She's 9 years old  
  
and she's taking down 15 year olds. It's amazing!"  
  
James continued to watch her. He thought back to the previous year. It had not  
  
been a happy one. Vixy had died when the family car had mysteriously blown up in the  
  
driveway. Both Rita and Fox had taken it very badly, so James had decided to enroll them  
  
both in kick boxing lessons to get them to concentrate on something positive.  
  
He hadn't expected Rita to do so well. Fox did well too, but Rita was practicing  
  
with kids almost twice her age. and winning, after only a few months of training. It had  
  
shocked him and the instructors. Rita was small even for a girl her age, and it looked  
  
funny to see such a small girl take down boys who were more than twice her size. One of  
  
the instructors compared her to a compact car 'cute, compact, but has a heck of a lot of  
  
power'.  
  
The instructor sighed as Rita KO'ed one of the other students. The student quickly  
  
came to and glared at Rita, who was apologizing profusely. "How does she do that?" the  
  
instructor walked onto the floor and announced that practice was over for the day.  
  
Rita ran over to James and began to stuff her things into her gym bag. The  
  
instructor followed behind her and motioned to James that he wanted to have a word with  
  
him.  
  
The instructor looked a little embarrassed. He looked at his feet for a moment,  
  
then quickly announced, "We want to start instructing her in private lessons." He said  
  
motioning to the other instructors. James began to protest, but was cut off. "At no extra  
  
cost of course! We believe that she has a lot of potential, and the best way to tap into that  
  
potential is by private instruction. We wouldn't pass up this opportunity for anything." He  
  
smiled sheepishly.  
  
James sighed and smiled to himself (he loved to hear praise about either one of  
  
his kids). "It's fine with me, if it's okay with her."  
  
Rita began her private training the following week. ~*~ Rita sighed as she walked out to the kick boxing floor. Only two more weeks until  
  
I'm 16, she thought to herself. She gently slapped the side of her face and mentally  
  
reamed herself for not concentrating.  
  
It was the final match for the Cornerian Junior Women's Kick Boxing  
  
Championships. Rita had easily gotten here, but so had her opponent.  
  
It looked like it was going to be a close match. Rita's opponent was a lot bigger  
  
than she was, so it at least promised to be an entertaining match.  
  
Rita's friends from the Academy cheered her on. She said that this was the last  
  
time she was going to compete in an event like this, because she wanted to be a pilot, not  
  
a kick boxer (and she was off to a really good start, she was second in her class in the  
  
Academy, right behind Fox).  
  
Somewhere in the stands someone yelled to her, "Kick ass, sweet thing!" Rita  
  
recognized the voice of Wolf O'Donnel. Ugh. why won't he leave me alone, she cursed  
  
to herself. Wolf seemed to have developed an infatuation with her after meeting her once  
  
a few weeks ago. Rita, on the other hand, seemed to think that Wolf was a jerk who  
  
thought with his balls and not his brains.  
  
The match started.  
  
It was soon apparent that while her opponent had the size advantage, Rita was  
  
much quicker, therefore; she landed more hits than she received. The other girl, Manda  
  
Harris, decided that she was going to have to take out Rita with force.  
  
She did a sweep kick in hopes of tripping Rita, but Rita avoided the kick by back  
  
flipping across the mat. Didn't know I could do that! She thought.  
  
Manda soon became tired, and Rita finally took her down. The other Academy  
  
students erupted into cheers. Rita just sighed and smiled at her friends.  
  
Fox was waiting for her outside the locker room. He practically tackled her and  
  
gave her a big hug while lifting her off of her feet. Katt and Bill came running, followed  
  
closely by Slippy. They all started talking at once. "That was so cool!" "You were great!"  
  
"My roommate's the Cornerian Junior Women's champ!" "You go girl!"  
  
Rita rolled her eyes. "At least I never have to do that again!" They all stared at  
  
her. She laughed. "I want to be a pilot! Not a kick boxer!" They all smiled and began to  
  
talk excitedly again.  
  
They were interrupted when a tall blue avian pushed into the center of their group  
  
and lifted Rita off of her feet. "Congrats, fuzz ball." Said Falco Lombardi giving her a  
  
quick peck on the cheek. Katt stared up at the avian with a look of complete infatuation in  
  
her eyes.  
  
"Thanks. Now, put me down, feather head." Rita playfully kicked at his knees.  
  
Falco put her down quickly then began to act like she had hurt him. His acting  
  
was purposely terrible. "Ooh! Ooh! My knees! I'll never walk again!" he used a sarcastic  
  
half scream as he fake limped around the hall. "You've maimed me for life!" The others  
  
were practically rolling on the floor in hysterics.  
  
The laughter quickly stopped as Wolf O'Donnel walked up to the group. Rita hid  
  
herself behind Fox and Falco.  
  
Bill growled at the intruder. "What do you want?"  
  
Wolf eyed Bill suspiciously, then decided to ignore him. "Rita, babe, good job."  
  
He elbowed past Fox and grabbed her wrist.  
  
"Don't call me that." She jerked her arm free of his grasp and backed away from  
  
him. Falco stepped between them with his fists balled up, ready to punch Wolf.  
  
"What's all this?" came a deep voice behind Rita. James walked up to the group  
  
with an inquisitive look on his face.  
  
Rita threw her arms around his neck. "Dad!" James raised an eyebrow at Wolf and  
  
Falco, who still looked like they were about to fight.  
  
Wolf thought for a moment, then decided to back down, for now. "Catch ya later,  
  
babe." He said as he walked off down the hall.  
  
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" Rita yelled after him.  
  
"Whatever, babe." Was his response.  
  
Rita screamed in frustration. James still stood looking at the group, waiting for an  
  
explanation. "Well?" he prodded. Fox explained the situation quickly, and James nodded  
  
as he listened. When Fox had finished, James turned to Rita and said, "Be careful around  
  
him, Ri. I don't like the sound of this."  
  
"How do you think I feel?" she grumbled as she hugged him again.  
  
James hugged her back. He then smiled and turned to the others. "Anyone up for  
  
ice cream?" ~*~ Fox and Rita were home from the Academy for the weekend. It had been two  
  
weeks since the kick-boxing match, which meant it was close to Rita's 16th birthday.  
  
Fox's birthday had been three days ago, and Rita's was the next day.  
  
James walked into the living room where the two were playing video games. He  
  
was carrying a small package wrapped in a pretty burgundy (Rita's favorite color)  
  
wrapping paper.  
  
He waited until they finished the round they were on, then paused the game. "I  
  
was going to give this to you tomorrow, but I just got a call from General Pepper and he  
  
has a job he needs me to do so I have to leave tonight." He said handing the package to  
  
Rita.  
  
She carefully unwrapped the package and took out a small box like the one's  
  
jewelers use to keep necklaces in. She gave him a questioning look. He just motioned for  
  
her to open it. Inside was a small round gold pendant on a gold chain.  
  
Rita nearly fainted. "It's beautiful!" she gasped, staring at it.  
  
James took it out of the jeweler's box and fastened it around her neck. "I thought  
  
that you were old enough to have a nice piece of jewelry." He patted her between the ears  
  
like he had done since she was a little kit. "Take good care of it."  
  
"I will." She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Thank you so much, Dad!" James smiled as he returned her hug.  
  
"I have to go get things ready now." He patted her ears one more time then ran  
  
upstairs to call Peppy and Pigma.  
  
Rita snuggled closer to Fox. "So what'd you get me for my birthday?" She asked  
  
jokingly.  
  
He grabbed her nose and laughed. "You'll have to wait until tomorrow." Rita  
  
returned his gesture and giggled. "Weeb willy godda stob doing dis."  
  
"Stob doing whad?" Rita giggled again. ~*~ Fox sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "They've been gone for almost a week.  
  
I don't like this at all." He kicked the back Rita's chair.  
  
She threw down her pencil in frustration. "Stupid trajectory problems." she  
  
muttered to herself. To Fox she said, "Dad can take care of himself. I wouldn't start  
  
worrying for another couple days." She sighed. "Then again, I don't have a very good  
  
feeling about this."  
  
Fox eyed her. "Wha'd'ya mean?' he propped his feet on his desk as the instructor  
  
came into the room. The instructor gave Fox a dirty look and he quickly put his feet back  
  
on the floor.  
  
Rita shrugged. "I dunno. I've just been having weird dreams."  
  
Fox didn't have time to question her further; the instructor had started class. ~*~ Later that day the flight class had just landed their ships in the hanger. They had  
  
come in early from their flight exercises due to a sudden rainstorm. Fox, Falco, Katt, Bill,  
  
Slippy, Fara, and Rita walked out of the building chatting happily.  
  
"Shoot!" Rita slapped her forehead. "I left my jacket. I'll catch up with you in a  
  
few minutes." She ran back into the hanger and grabbed her jacket out of the ship she had  
  
been using. All of the cadets and instructors had already left the building, and the sound  
  
of Rita's footsteps echoed off of the hanger walls.  
  
As she climbed down from the ship she suddenly felt uneasy, like she was being  
  
watched. She listened for a second, then decided that she was just being paranoid.  
  
Rita gasped as a pair of hands closed around her waist. The owner of the hands  
  
nuzzled her neck, and she caught a whiff of cologne. The hands gripped tighter as she  
  
struggled to get away.  
  
"Calm down, sweetheart." She recognized Wolf's voice.  
  
"Let go of me, Wolf." She slapped at his hands. He ignored her and moved a hand  
  
higher.  
  
"I just wanted to tell you that I'll be going away for a while." He kissed the side of  
  
her neck.  
  
She struggled harder. "Good! Now let go of me." She was starting to get  
  
frightened. Wolf moved his hand higher so that it was just below her breast.  
  
"I'll come back for you when things settle down." He kissed her throat, and she  
  
began to get panicky.  
  
"Let go of me!" she swung at him, but missed. "I don't want you to come back for  
  
me! Go away, and leave me alone!" he caught her wrist as she tried to hit him again.  
  
"I'll come back for you." He repeated. "I love you, Rita. Let me show you how  
  
much." his voice trailed off as he forced Rita onto the floor. He covered her mouth as  
  
she tried to scream.  
  
Wolf let go of her momentarily to try to unfasten the buttons of her shirt. Rita  
  
used the opportunity to plant her elbow in the side of his face, and then she sprang to her  
  
feet and ran.  
  
Ran faster then she had ever run in her life, but Wolf still caught her. He dragged  
  
her to the floor.  
  
She began to panic even more as she struggled in vain to get away from him. Her  
  
baser instincts kicked in, and she clawed and bit at him in a blind fury. Wolf was  
  
momentarily stunned at this primal outburst, but he quickly regained his senses and  
  
bashed Rita's head against the floor.  
  
She struggled to stay conscious, but the blackness swallowed her almost instantly.  
  
She came to abruptly a few moments later. The smell of Wolf's cologne was strong in her  
  
nostrils. She felt numb and her head ached as her vision refused to focus as she lay  
  
helpless.  
  
Using all of her determination, Rita was finally able to bring her knee up with one  
  
swift motion. right between Wolf's legs. He screamed in rage (and pain). Rita rolled out  
  
of his grasp, as Wolf was momentarily incapacitated.  
  
Rita got to her feet, somewhat unsteadily, and placed a kick under Wolf's chin,  
  
then kicked him a second time in the crotch so she would have time to get away.  
  
She heard Wolf yelling that he'd come back for her as she half-ran half- stumbled  
  
as fast as she could away from him. The last thing she heard him say was, "Someday you  
  
WILL be mine!" ~*~ General Pepper sighed again as a hard rain began to fall. He sloshed through a  
  
mud puddle that had just formed. Peppy Hare walked beside him with his head down.  
  
Pepper was about to say something, but his words were knocked out of him as  
  
Rita crashed headlong into him, knocking them both to the ground. Pepper was back on  
  
his feet in an instant.  
  
He was about to yell about being careless, when he realized who it was. Slowly he  
  
noticed that the young vixen was missing several buttons from her shirt, and she had  
  
blood on her face and the back of her neck. Peppy knelt down beside her and scooped her  
  
up his arms.  
  
Oh, God, thought Pepper, this is not good!  
  
It dawned on Rita that Peppy was carrying her. "Peppy? Where's dad?" she asked  
  
between sobs, "Where's dad?"  
  
His silence didn't comfort her. ~*~ Rita lay in the hospital bed, unmoving. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, but she  
  
wasn't really looking at it. Peppy had finally told her that Pigma had betrayed them, and  
  
that James was dead.  
  
The doctors said that it had been too much for her, and that she'd gone into shock.  
  
She hadn't moved or made a sound for about 3 hours. She was oblivious to Fox's shouts  
  
and screams of protest, anger, and finally sorrow in the hallway outside of her hospital  
  
room.  
  
Fox slowly walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to her. "Rita?" he  
  
gently took her hand in his. "Ri?" She lay unmoving as he caressed her cheek. "Don't  
  
worry, Ri, we'll make him pay. Somehow." He curled up next to her and rested his head  
  
next to her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her slender body as he began to cry.  
  
Rita slowly wrapped her arms around his body, but still made no sound. The nurse  
  
came into the room and was about to protest, but General Pepper silenced her with a  
  
warning glance. ~*~ Fox sat next to Rita on the couch in the living room of Peppy's house. Rita was  
  
curled up into a tight ball; she stared out into the room without really seeing it. Peppy  
  
called to them that dinner was ready, and Fox stood up to go to the kitchen. He gently  
  
nudged Rita and she followed him like a well programmed robot.  
  
Peppy sighed as they sat down at the table. Rita had gone through the last 3 weeks  
  
as if she were in a trance. She had done everything as if it were a reflex. she ate, slept,  
  
and stared off into the distance, and she hadn't said a word in those three weeks either.  
  
Fox sighed as he poked at his spaghetti with his fork. He hadn't been well in the  
  
last three weeks either. He had lost his father, and his best friend was walking through  
  
life like a zombie. Peppy was trying hard to ease the pain for him, but he just wasn't  
  
James.  
  
Peppy noticed Rita staring at her plate with her now usual blank stare. He gently  
  
touched her arm, "Eat, Rita." The young vixen obediently began to eat. He sighed and  
  
stared at his plate. It didn't look appetizing to him, but he choked it down anyway. ~*~ Rita lay in the bed in the guestroom that Peppy had set up for her. She stared at  
  
the ceiling. A car passed on the street outside and the lights moved across the ceiling as it  
  
moved away from the house.  
  
She blinked.  
  
Another car passed and she followed the light on the ceiling with her eyes. Very  
  
slowly a malicious grin spread across her face, and she began to giggle quietly to herself. ~*~ Peppy noticed a change in Rita at breakfast the next morning. She jabbed at her  
  
waffle ferociously until it was nothing but a mangled mess on her plate. she giggled  
  
quietly the entire time. Fox stared at Rita, a look of anxiety on his face. Peppy quickly  
  
took the fork from Rita before she decided to use it on something else.  
  
She suddenly stood up, knocking her chair over in the process. After throwing her  
  
plate across the kitchen she ran from the room laughing hysterically.  
  
Fox sat frozen for a moment, then he got up and ran after her. Peppy followed him  
  
just in time to see Fox tackle Rita in the living room. She struggled momentarily then lay  
  
limp in Fox's arms. The young vulpine picked up his friend and carried her up to her  
  
room.  
  
Fox gently caressed her hair as she lay sleeping on the bed. Occasionally she  
  
twitched in her sleep, and Fox would rub her behind the ears. He yawned and curled up  
  
next to her on the bed. Gently wrapping his arms around her waist he fell asleep.  
  
Peppy watched all this from the doorway, and wondered if they would ever be  
  
able to lead their lives sanely again. He worried that he would have to have Rita  
  
committed to a hospital for the mentally ill if she didn't improve soon. After that  
  
morning's incident he felt that she had gotten worse; that she'd gone insane.  
  
He didn't want to send his best friend's little girl to a "nut house", and more  
  
importantly, he knew that would hurt Fox more too. Rita was the last "family" that he had  
  
left, besides Peppy, but Fox was closer to Rita. They had been inseparable since they  
  
were newborns.  
  
He decided to wait a few more days before he made a decision. Maybe this was  
  
just going to be a bad period before she snapped out of it. Maybe she would never snap  
  
out of it. Only time would tell. ~*~ Rita slowly opened her eyes as the sunlight shone in her face through the window.  
  
She lay still for a few moments, then a sly smile spread across her face. Rolling over she  
  
found that Fox was asleep next to her. Fox snorted as she grabbed his nose and gently  
  
pinched it. "Wakey, wakey." she giggled.  
  
Fox's eyes shot open as he heard her voice. He sat up abruptly and hugged her  
  
tightly to his chest. He cradled her in his arms and softly repeated, "Thank God, thank  
  
God."  
  
Rita briefly wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his hug. Then she  
  
pushed him away and got out of bed. As she walked over to the closet she announced,  
  
"We're going back to the Academy tomorrow." She began to undress, but stopped and  
  
gave Fox a pointed look.  
  
He got the hint and left the room.  
  
Fox wandered into the kitchen, where Peppy was attempting to make blueberry  
  
pancakes. The hare dropped a handful of berries into the batter as Fox flopped down at  
  
the table.  
  
"Rita wants to go back to the Academy tomorrow." Fox stated. Peppy dropped a  
  
handful of berries on the counter. The berries scattered across the kitchen. Peppy gaped at  
  
Fox.  
  
"What?"  
  
"He said that I want to go back to the Academy tomorrow." Rita leaned in the  
  
doorway of the kitchen. Peppy gasped as he saw the cold look in her eyes.  
  
The aging hare sat down in a chair abruptly as he felt a wave of complete  
  
malevolence emanate off of the young vixen. Fox squirmed uncomfortably in his chair,  
  
and Peppy could tell that he felt the anger from Rita too.  
  
The feeling that came from Rita wasn't evil by any means, but it was a horrible  
  
essence. The essence of a young woman who been hurt badly at an age where she  
  
couldn't cope. and she wanted revenge for the life that had been prefect, but now lay in  
  
shambles around her.  
  
Peppy sighed as the wave of malevolence eased off of his mind. Studying Rita he  
  
realized that she would never be the bright and bubbly girl she had been before. The girl  
  
that sat before him now was bitter and cold, yet something in her prevented her from  
  
being evil.  
  
Peppy realized that 'something' was sitting next to her, and he prayed that nothing  
  
would happen to Fox, or he knew that Rita would go completely insane. and possibly  
  
become evil. ~*~ Katt stared as Rita continued to do her homework at an amazing pace. The young  
  
feline decided to repeat her last comment; "Fara says that she want to date Fox."  
  
Rita slammed her pencil down on the desk, "She'd better stay away from him  
  
unless she wants me to rip her arms off!" Katt gaped at Rita, then nodded nervously. "No  
  
one goes anywhere near him." Rita muttered as she turned back to her assignment.  
  
She's gone completely off the deep end, Katt thought to herself. Sighing she  
  
glanced at the calendar. Graduation was only two weeks away, and Fox was losing his  
  
lead in the class to Rita, who seemed to have gotten a wild determination to do her best.  
  
in everything. The determined vixen now easily defeated even the once despised  
  
trajectory problems. ~*~ Fox closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Graduation was in two days, and he  
  
held his final score in his hands. He quickly tore open the envelope and glanced down at  
  
the paper. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Second place!!!" he yelled.  
  
Bill was startled by Fox's yell and fell out of his chair. "What?!" The gray canine  
  
got up off of the floor and glanced at the paper in Fox's hand. "Then who in first place?"  
  
Falco and Slippy crashed into the room in mid-argument.  
  
"Did not!"  
  
"Did too!"  
  
"Did not!"  
  
"Did too!"  
  
Falco made a fist with his wing and threatened Slippy. The frog immediately  
  
stopped arguing.  
  
The avian walked over to Fox and Bill and patted Fox on the back. "Tough luck."  
  
"Huh?" Fox quirked an eyebrow at Falco.  
  
"Was just over at the girls' room, Rita had her score and she's in first place." Falco  
  
looked at Fox's paper and inhaled sharply. "She beat you by 20 points?!"  
  
They all gaped at Falco. "WHAT!?!"  
  
Fox glanced down at his paper again then stomped out of the room.  
  
He met Rita halfway down the hall. She gave him a sheepish grin, "Sorry", she  
  
said giving Fox a hug, "I had no idea that I'd gotten that far ahead of you. I didn't even  
  
think it was possible to get ahead of you."  
  
Fox sighed and hugged her back, "I'd rather lose first place to you than anyone  
  
else." He rested his chin on the top of her head. "It proves that Dad was the best, when  
  
both of his students graduate at the top of the class." They smiled weakly at each other,  
  
then hugged again. ~*~ Fox sighed and looked at Rita. "You're sure?'  
  
"Yes." She answered.  
  
"Absolutely sure?" His voice had a pleading tone to it.  
  
She sighed and folded her arms. "Yes, Fox, absolutely. You've got Falco, and  
  
Slippy, and even Peppy. You'll do fine without me. Besides, I said that I'd help out if you  
  
ever needed it."  
  
Fox grabbed her shoulders, "But, Dad would want you on the team!"  
  
She buried her face in Fox's chest and sighed. Looking up she said, "I'm sure he  
  
would, but I think I can be of more use to you doing. other things."  
  
Fox lowered his eyes and let a breath out through his teeth. "Just don't get  
  
yourself killed doing your. 'other things'".  
  
Rita ruffled his hair. "Relax! It's not like I'm going to be the first female spy in  
  
history!" She reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I know you're going to  
  
be a great leader. just like Dad."  
  
"You're changing the subject." Fox muttered.  
  
"By the way," Rita ignored his last comment, "you look really good in that  
  
uniform." She gestured to Fox's green StarFox uniform.  
  
He decided to let it slide. "Thanks. You too." Rita wore a burgundy copy of the  
  
StarFox uniform, even though she wasn't an 'official' part of the team. Fox insisted that  
  
she wear it while she was onboard the Great Fox.  
  
"So. when is Pepper getting those new Arwings to you guys?" Rita pushed a  
  
strand of red hair out of her eyes.  
  
"In a few hours." Fox shook his head and sighed. He ran his hand through his hair  
  
and stared at his feet.  
  
Rita cocked her head to the side and watched him. "What is it, Fox?"  
  
"I just wish you'd change your mind." He continued to stare at his feet. He  
  
looked up at her suddenly, and before she could react he kissed her. "Be careful, Ri," he  
  
said as he walked down the hall.  
  
Rita stared at him in shock as he walked away. "I will." she said softly to  
  
herself. ~*~ Rita pulled Katt into the shadows behind a pile of boxes in the landing area. A  
  
group of Venomian troops ran past their hiding place, oblivious to the fact that their  
  
targets were hiding in the shadows.  
  
Katt waited until all of the troops had passed then whispered, "What are we going  
  
to do? Our transport was destroyed! How are we gonna get out of here?"  
  
Rita held a finger up to her lips and pointed to an unguarded Invader class ship  
  
nearby. Katt nodded in understanding. They carefully looked around to see if there were  
  
anymore troops or guards nearby, then they ran to the Invader.  
  
There was a soft click in the hallway behind them. Rita turned and saw a  
  
movement in the shadows of the hallway. "See if you can get this thing going. I'll make  
  
sure we aren't gonna die anytime in the next two minutes." She took out the blaster that  
  
Fox had insisted she carry, even though she was a rotten shot with one. For once she was  
  
glad she had it though.  
  
Katt quickly examined the Invader and began to hotwire it deftly.  
  
Rita carefully walked to the entrance to the hallway and the shadow moved again.  
  
"You get prettier all the time." Stated a voice that was very familiar to her.  
  
She aimed at the shadow. "Wolf." She spat out the word as if it were poison.  
  
Wolf stepped out of the shadows. "I said I'd come for you. You didn't have to  
  
come to me." Rita noticed that he now wore a patch over his left eye. "I guess you must  
  
have really missed me."  
  
"You are so delusional, Cyclops." She aimed the blaster in the general direction of  
  
his head, and prayed that she wouldn't have to actually shoot it.  
  
Behind her Katt gave a small yell of triumph as the Invader powered up. "Come  
  
on, Ri! We've gotta get out of here!" Katt waved frantically at her friend to hurry up.  
  
Rita took a warning shot to distract Wolf and ran over to the Invader. Wolf yelled  
  
as he realized that she was getting away, "Not this time!"  
  
The women crammed themselves into the one-person fighter and prepared to take  
  
off. Wolf realized that he'd have to wait until another time to get his 'love', and he ducked  
  
back into the hallway to avoid the blast as the fighter took off.  
  
Warning alarms blared through the base as the fighter attempted to get away. Katt  
  
shoved Rita away from the controls and frantically maneuvered away from the base.  
  
Enemy fighters chased after them, but Katt doubled back and flew into their ranks. The  
  
other fighters soon became confused and started to shoot each other down.  
  
She quickly exited the fray and flew away. A lone fighter soon started to pursue  
  
them. Wolf's voice came over the radio, "Why are you running away, Love?"  
  
Rita tried to shove Katt away from the controls. Grabbing hold of the controls she  
  
tried to aim the blasters at Wolf's ship, but Katt shoved her back. "I'm flying if you don't  
  
mind, Ri-Ri." She hissed.  
  
Rita smacked the side of Katt's head. "How many times do I have to tell you not  
  
to call me that!" Katt smacked her back. "Fine, Pinky, just get us out of here before they  
  
realize we're getting away!"  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" taunted Wolf.  
  
Rita grabbed the controls from Katt again and fired at their pursuer. A lucky shot  
  
hit his wing and it blew up. Wolf swore over the com then turned back to the base,  
  
"You'll be with me soon, My Love!" He promised as he flew away.  
  
The girls were silent for a moment, then Katt yelled, "PINKY! Who are you  
  
calling 'Pinky'!?"  
  
"Having a bit of a delayed reaction are we?" Rita's voice dripped with sarcasm.  
  
"At least I don't have neon orange hair!" Katt retorted.  
  
"It's not NEON! At least orange is a natural color for fur, PINKY!" Rita pulled on  
  
Katt's hair. Katt pulled Rita's hair in return. They bickered all the way back to the  
  
Cornerian base. ~*~ General Pepper paced behind his desk. "So, you failed to get the information on  
  
Andross's new base?"  
  
Katt and Rita pointed at each other, "It was HER fault!' they said in tandem.  
  
Pepper sat down in his chair behind the desk and folded his hands on the desk. He  
  
narrowed his eyes; "I don't care whose fault it was. You get a transport destroyed, and  
  
you failed to get the information we needed. AND you cause a stir by coming back here  
  
in an ENEMY fighter!"  
  
Rita slammed her fist down on the desk. "Did you WANT us to stay there? I'm  
  
sure they would have found us VERY ENTERTAINING!" Her eyes flashed as she  
  
remembered Wolf.  
  
Pepper was surprised by Rita's sudden outburst. When she had been a cadet he  
  
remembered her to be a bubbly young vixen, who was always in a good mood. The  
  
woman who stood before him was two years older and very bitter still about her near-  
  
rape and the loss of her 'father'.  
  
He sighed, "Point taken. You're dismissed."  
  
Katt sat down on his desk. "Just one thing, General." She purred, "Mind if I keep  
  
that ship I brought in?" Rita glared at her. "I mean WE brought in?" Katt stuck her tongue  
  
out at Rita. "After all mine was destroyed last week."  
  
Pepper sighed. "Fine. Just leave me alone."  
  
Rita sighed and dragged Katt out of the room. They began bickering again as they  
  
left the General's office. ~*~ Fox looked up from the book he was reading as a loud crash suddenly sounded in  
  
the hallway outside the rec room. An angry voice that was unmistakably Falco's spat out  
  
a string of obscenities. Rita opened one eye part of the way, then pulled her pillow over  
  
her head, and went back to napping on the couch.  
  
"Argh!!! Get away!" yelled Falco. The only response was the sound of Katt  
  
giggling.  
  
Fox sighed and went back to reading his book. He had only read half a sentence  
  
when another loud crash interrupted him. He growled and tossed his book down on the  
  
coffee table. "Can't they be quiet about that?" he asked, obviously ticked.  
  
Rita mumbled something unintelligible from under her pillow.  
  
"Care to repeat that?" Fox asked as he sat down on top of her legs.  
  
She threw the pillow at his head, but he caught it before it hit. "I said: I think Katt  
  
needs to try a different tactic." He quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?" she asked.  
  
"You and Katt were always such good friends. Why are you two at each other's  
  
throats all the time now?" Fox tried to lie down beside her, but she flipped him onto the  
  
floor.  
  
"Things change." she muttered.  
  
Fox stared at her. "What happened, Ri?"  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him.  
  
"Rita." He got up and pulled her into a sitting position on the couch.  
  
She jerked her arm away from him. "I don't butt into her love life. I don't see why  
  
she tries to run mine." She growled.  
  
Fox got a look in his eyes that Rita had never seen before. "You. have a  
  
boyfriend?" It sounded like he was trying not to choke.  
  
She gaped at him. "What?! No!" she tried to get up but Fox pinned her down.  
  
"She seems to think I need one though!" she crossed her arms and tossed her head  
  
haughtily. "I don't know how many times I've had to find an excuse to get out of some  
  
stupid blind date that she's set up."  
  
Fox let out a sigh of relief, and rested his head on her knee. "For a second there I  
  
thought you were trying to hide something from me."  
  
Rita scratched behind Fox's ear. "I wouldn't do that." she half whispered as Fox  
  
wrapped his arms around her legs. ~*~ Falco burst into Fox's room. "Safe," he sighed as he hid in the closet.  
  
"Ungh?" Fox groaned as he lifted his head from his pillow. "What's going on?"  
  
He asked sleepily.  
  
Falco shushed at him from the closet. "She might hear you." He poked his head  
  
out and listened carefully. The sound of someone walking in the hallway made him  
  
quickly duck back into the closet.  
  
The footsteps stopped outside the door. A light knock rapped on the door. Falco  
  
almost stopped breathing. "If it's Katt then I'm not here." He crawled as far back into  
  
the closet as he could, which wasn't really an easy task since Fox threw his dirty clothes  
  
on the closet floor. and he hadn't done laundry in a while.  
  
The knocking came again, but a bit louder this time.  
  
Fox grumbled as he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled over to the door.  
  
Another knock, then Rita's voice. "Fox? Are you there?"  
  
He opened the door and Rita quickly walked into the room. She shut the door in a  
  
hurry. "I've gotta talk to you." She whispered as she leaned back against the door.  
  
Fox sensed that something was very wrong with her. She looked as if she had just  
  
woken up from a really bad nightmare. He urged her to continue.  
  
A loud crash in the closet made her jump. She let out an exasperated sigh as Falco  
  
fell out of the closet with a thud.  
  
"I was just leaving." The avian said as he tripped over a pair of pants.  
  
Rita crossed her arms and stared at him. "I won't even ask what you were doing in  
  
Fox's closet." Falco rushed past her and ran into the door. "It usually a good idea to open  
  
the door before you walk through it." She laughed as Falco rubbed his beak, then exited  
  
the room.  
  
Fox turned to his friend and rested his hands on her shoulders. The much smaller  
  
vixen stared up at him and sighed. "What were you going to say to me?" he asked quietly.  
  
"There you are!" Came Katt's voice from the hallway, followed by the sound of  
  
Falco yelling. Then the sound of someone running at top speed down the hallway echoed  
  
through the halls of the Great Fox.  
  
Both of the vulpines sighed and Rita covered her eyes with her hand. Fox just  
  
rolled his eyes. "This is getting old really quickly." He mumbled.  
  
Rita gently wrapped her arms around Fox's middle and buried her head in his  
  
chest. He gently stroked her hair and hugged her close to his body.  
  
The words, "I don't want to lose you," came muffled from Rita as she continued to  
  
hug Fox tightly.  
  
It took Fox a second to realize what she had just said. "Huh? What do you mean?"  
  
He forced her to look up at him.  
  
A single tear ran down Rita's face. "I had a really bad dream. it seemed so  
  
real." she trailed off.  
  
Fox squeezed her closer for a moment then said, "But it was just a dream, Ri. It  
  
wasn't real." He wiped away another tear as it ran down her cheek.  
  
She blinked and looked up at him. "I want to go with the team on your next  
  
mission." Her voice was steady.  
  
He smiled broadly. He'd been trying to get her on the team since James had died.  
  
"Yeah! Sure!"  
  
Another tear ran down her cheek as she buried her face into his chest. He doesn't  
  
realize that he's in danger. Maybe I can prevent it, she thought. Fox remained oblivious  
  
to Rita's distress from her dream. He was too happy to have her along on their next  
  
mission. ~*~ ". and we have to enter the base here." Fox pointed to a location on the holo-  
  
map.  
  
"This mission is suicide!" Falco crossed his arms and glared at Fox. "We're a  
  
group of pilots, but Pepper seem to think that we're a group of spies!" he continued to  
  
grumble as Peppy gave him a dirty look.  
  
Rita fidgeted. "I have to agree with Falco on this one."  
  
"What!?" Falco's beak dropped open.  
  
"I think it's a very bad idea." She continued.  
  
Everyone stared at her in open-mouthed surprise.  
  
Slippy finally spoke up. "Danger Woman doesn't think it's a good idea! When did  
  
that ever stop you?!" his voice got higher as he spoke. "Sheesh, Ri! Talk about irony!"  
  
Rita yanked Slippy's baseball cap down over his face. "When it's just my life on  
  
the line I don't really care, but when it's the lives of my friends. then I care." She stated  
  
simply.  
  
Fox narrowed his eyes at her. "Rita, if you don't like the idea, then you don't have  
  
to go along." He said.  
  
Rita turned to leave the room, then stopped and put her hands on her hips in a  
  
manner that said 'don't mess with me'. "I'm not letting you go in there by yourself, Fox.  
  
I'm going to be so close to you in there that you'll think I'm your shadow! I have a bad  
  
feeling about this, and I don't like it one bit. But if you insist on going in there, then I'm  
  
going to make sure that you come out of there alive!" She tossed her head and walked out  
  
of the room with an air of finality.  
  
Peppy watched her leave as the others stared after her, mouths still hanging open.  
  
"Why do I get the feeling that she already knows what going to happen when we go in  
  
there?" He asked half to himself.  
  
Fox turned around to face Peppy so quickly that he almost fell over. "What do  
  
you mean by that?" His voice was low and angry. "Do you think she's defected to  
  
Venom, and is spying on us?" He sounded angrier by the second.  
  
Peppy sighed. "I'm not accusing her of anything." He stated. "I know she's not on  
  
the enemy side." He tapped his forehead as a reminder that he was a telepath. "She hates  
  
Andross too much to do that. It's just that this mission has her scared about something,  
  
and I don't think that she even fully understands why she's so worried about it."  
  
"What?" Fox looked confused.  
  
"I think that she may have the ability to predict future events, but she doesn't  
  
realize that she can." The hare explained.  
  
"What?" Fox looked a bit more confused. Falco and Slippy stared at Peppy,  
  
completely baffled.  
  
Peppy sighed. "I think she might be psychic." He stated simply.  
  
The others blinked at him. Falco was the first to start laughing. Fox and Slippy  
  
joined in a few seconds later.  
  
"Very funny, Peppy!"  
  
"That's a scream!"  
  
"Rita? A psychic? HA!" ~*~ Rita sat on the edge of her bed. She stared down at a picture in her hand and  
  
sighed. The picture was of a picnic when she had been very young. James stood to one  
  
side and had his arms around Vixy; both of them were smiling broadly. In front of them  
  
stood Fox and Rita. Fox was grinning and had his arms around Rita; mimicking his  
  
father. Rita was laughing happily.  
  
Rita put the picture on her nightstand. She got to her feet and began to pace the  
  
room trying to clear her thoughts. "No good living in the past." she muttered to herself  
  
as she picked up the picture again. Sighing she placed the picture in a drawer. "I've got to  
  
find some way. Anything. Was that dream true? Or was it just a nightmare?" She  
  
flopped onto her bed and buried her face in the pillows.  
  
Crying she drifted off to sleep. ~*~ Rita stood in what looked like a docking bay. But it was twisted and deformed.  
  
Fox stood to her left and was shouting up at someone. She couldn't see who it was, but  
  
someone stood on a catwalk near the far wall. That was who Fox was shouting at.  
  
The figure on the catwalk moved it's arm and pointed something at Fox. A loud  
  
bang echoed eerily off of the walls. The sound was warped and sounded unreal to Rita.  
  
Helplessly she watched as Fox was thrown backwards. a large scarlet stain  
  
slowly spreading across his chest.  
  
She screamed and ran toward him, but her steps were heavy and it was difficult to  
  
move, almost like she was trying to run through a vat of glue. The figure from the catwalk  
  
appeared beside her and grabbed her arms.  
  
It was Wolf.  
  
She screamed louder as she struggled to free herself from his grasp. Fox's body  
  
lay a few feet from her, unmoving, blood was pooled around him.  
  
Wolf said one word, "Mine!" then he laughed. The laugh was distorted and ugly.  
  
Rita sobbed and cringed. ~*~ Rita's eyes snapped open. She was drenched in sweat. "That dream.again."  
  
She stumbled out of bed and ran to the bathroom. After splashing cold water on her face  
  
she looked at her reflection in the mirror.  
  
Dark circles showed under her eyes. "I've lost it." she grumbled to herself. "I  
  
need to get sleep. I'll be useless if I don't get some rest."  
  
She splashed some more cold water in her face then went back to her room.  
  
Peppy stood in the shadows and watched Rita enter her room. Strange dreams.I  
  
wonder if they are visions or just the product of her over-active imagination.Whatever  
  
they are, they're worrying her a lot.  
  
He turned and entered his own room. "She's determined to save Fox, if these  
  
dreams of hers are real. I just wonder how she plans to stop it." He sighed and crawled  
  
into bed. "Now, as long as no one else has a nightmare, maybe I can get some sleep."  
  
He mumbled as he turned out the light. ~*~ "So far so good." Fox muttered peering around a corner. Rita nodded, but she was  
  
still worried. "Would you stop breathing down my neck, Ri?" he hissed at her.  
  
She shook her head. "I'm staying close to you."  
  
Fox grumbled something unintelligible about ". women being so paranoid."  
  
Fox nodded at her and they ran quickly down the corridor, then ducked into a  
  
doorway. After determining that the coast was still clear, they ran around the corner into  
  
a large storage bay.  
  
A chill ran down Rita's spine. It looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on  
  
the reason why. A balcony ran across the opposite wall of the bay.  
  
Fox looked around cautiously. Falco, Slippy, and Peppy appeared in another  
  
doorway along the wall to Rita's right. Fox pointed to a large crate and mouthed the  
  
words, "That's it." He nodded and they all moved carefully closer to it in case there was a  
  
trap.  
  
Fox lowered his blaster and carefully looked over the crate. "Hmm." he said.  
  
"This was just a bit too easy."  
  
Someone laughed. "Indeed, StarFox!" came Wolf's voice.  
  
They quickly spotted him standing on the balcony. Rita got another chill. It was  
  
getting more and more familiar to her. Peppy tried to put his hand on her shoulder to calm  
  
her, but she shrugged it off.  
  
"So it was a trap!" Fox shouted to Wolf. "I thought so! That was WAY too easy."  
  
He stepped around the crate to get a better view of his rival.  
  
Rita began to panic mentally. Her dream was acting itself out in front of her.  
  
Time seemed to slow down as Wolf raised his arm. In his hand was an old  
  
fashioned pistol.  
  
As he pulled the trigger on the pistol, Rita did the only thing that she could think  
  
to do to save Fox's life.  
  
She jumped in front of him.  
  
The impact of the bullet threw her backward knocking Fox down as she fell. A  
  
deep scarlet stain spread across her chest. Fox quickly sat up and held her in his arms.  
  
Wolf dropped his pistol and screamed in rage. "It's your fault, McCloud! She  
  
wasn't supposed to get hit! You were supposed to die! You! You!!!" He quickly  
  
disappeared through a doorway.  
  
Peppy crouched down next to Fox. Fox sat on his knees holding Rita's still body.  
  
He said nothing and continued to cradle his best friend in his arms.  
  
Peppy examined Rita as best he could. "It just missed her heart, I think. We need  
  
to get her out of here and to a doctor. NOW!"  
  
Fox didn't move. "Why?" he finally asked.  
  
"Because she'll die if we don't!" yelled Falco.  
  
Fox shook his head. "Why did she get in front of me?" he lowered his head to hers  
  
and nuzzled her gently. "Don't die, Rita. Don't die."  
  
Realizing that they weren't going to be able to get her out of the base if they didn't  
  
move soon Falco took Rita from Fox's arms and carried her toward the exit. Peppy  
  
dragged Fox to his feet and Slippy followed behind.  
  
Surprisingly, there were very few guards, and they got out of the base easily.  
  
However, it was going to be difficult to get Rita back to the Great Fox.  
  
Peppy ordered ROB to bring the Great Fox closer to their location. It was close  
  
enough that they could use the short-range transport to get her on board. Fox stayed by  
  
her side the entire time, not wanting to let her out of his sight in case she should die when  
  
he wasn't looking. ~*~ Rita lay on the surgical table in the Great Fox's medical bay. Peppy gently applied  
  
a wad of gauze to her wound, which was still bleeding profusely. He had put her on the  
  
life support system that was onboard, but there was little else he could do. The life  
  
support system wasn't even really that. It was more of a system to be used when someone  
  
was less severely hurt (like a bullet to the leg or arm). Unfortunately this was the best he  
  
could do, besides pray that she would live long enough to get her to Corneria.  
  
Fox stood beside the table and held her hand gently. He hadn't spoken since they  
  
had got her onboard. Carefully he pushed a lock of her hair out of her face. Peppy noticed  
  
a line of matted fur down Fox's face, where tears had been running. He decided that it  
  
would be best to leave Fox alone. ~*~ Rita slowly opened her eyes. Everything was gray around her, but it looked black  
  
in the distance. "Almost as if I'm in a gray room looking out at the night through a glare  
  
on the window." She was surprised that her thoughts were spoken, even though she had  
  
not opened her mouth.  
  
She mused over this for a moment. Slowly she realized that she wasn't standing on  
  
anything. As soon as the thought occurred to her a floor appeared under her feet. It was  
  
gray like everything else. "Odd." again her thoughts were spoken.  
  
"Where the heck am I?" She slowly turned in a circle. It was the same all around  
  
her. all gray. "I feel like I'm trapped in a bubble." She grumbled.  
  
She tried to walk forward to the edge of the 'bubble' but it moved with her. "What  
  
is this? Some sort of force field?" she made a short disgusted sound.  
  
Behind her something flickered to life. She spun around to face it so fast that the  
  
hem of her long gray gown slapped at her ankles. She found herself face to face with a  
  
ball of yellowish light.  
  
Quickly she backed away from it, only to step on the hem of the gown, which was  
  
a bit too long for her. She landed with a soft thump on the 'floor'.  
  
The light hovered closer to her face, and floated in mid air at eye level. It seemed  
  
to beckon for her to follow it. Cautiously she got to her feet, never taking her eyes off of  
  
the light. It began to move away.  
  
Rita followed it, not quite sure why she did so. "Well anything is better than all  
  
this grayness. Maybe it knows a way out of here." She thought as she began to follow the  
  
light. ~*~ A medical team was waiting for them when they got into orbit around Corneria.  
  
The team was on a transport that was scheduled to take the team down to the planet.  
  
Several doctors on the team moved Rita from the medical bay on the Great Fox  
  
into a temporary medical facility on the transport. They immediately started to try to  
  
stabilize her condition, though it looked like a futile attempt.  
  
Another of the doctors had sedated Fox, after he had almost strangled a doctor  
  
when he was told that Rita had very little chance for survival. Fox was now asleep in a  
  
bunk in the back of the transport.  
  
Falco stared down at his sleeping commander. "He's not taking this too well is  
  
he?" For once the avian sounded concerned, and his voice lacked its usual sarcastic tone.  
  
Peppy sighed, "She's the only thing left that he can really call family." He folded  
  
his hands in front of him in a monk-like fashion. "They've been together all their lives. I  
  
never thought I'd live to see one without the other." A single tear ran down the hare's  
  
cheek.  
  
Slippy fidgeted nervously, but said nothing. ~*~ Rita felt like she had been walking for hours. Still all she could see was gray all  
  
around her, and the light in front of her. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic in the  
  
little "bubble" of grayness. To her it seemed like she was trapped in a small gray room,  
  
that had curving walls that met above her to form a curved ceiling. The "floor" was non-  
  
existent, except where she placed her feet to walk.  
  
The grayness didn't look solid though, it was like a mist surrounding her. "I don't  
  
like this. I don't even know if I'm going anywhere. I feel like I'm trapped on a treadmill. It  
  
all looks the same, nothing ever changes." She said out loud to the light. "Don't  
  
suppose you really care though, huh?" she addressed the light again.  
  
The light just continued to move forward. Rita followed it, still unsure why she did  
  
so. She kept walking, walking, walking. ~*~ Fox paced in the waiting room in the hospital. The others watched him pace back  
  
and forth across the floor. Nurses came in and out of the room, but stayed as far from him  
  
as they could. He didn't look like he'd take an intrusion into his personal space very well.  
  
In the emergency room the doctors worked in desperation to save Rita's life.  
  
Although they gave their best efforts her life was slowly draining away.  
  
The doctors were getting more frantic. They tried everything they could, and then  
  
they would try it all again. Nothing was working.  
  
The heart monitor that was monitoring Rita began to show her pulse slowing.  
  
"We're losing her!"  
  
The monitor flatlined.  
  
"Oh, God!"  
  
"Quick! We've got to try to get her back." ~*~ Rita tripped on something in the grayness. She fell forward, unable to stop  
  
herself.  
  
She carefully lifted her head. In front of her was a staircase made entirely of  
  
black marble. It went upwards as far as she could see.  
  
Getting to her feet she looked behind her. There was no sign of the grayness that  
  
she had been in for so long. She now stood in what looked like a large ornate dining hall  
  
out of a fairy tale, except that it was entirely black.  
  
"Creepy." she muttered to herself. The light urged her to follow it up the  
  
staircase.  
  
Rita suddenly felt very tired. She sat down on the steps and buried her head in her  
  
gown. Quickly she jumped to her feet. Her gown had changed too. It was no longer the  
  
plain gray robe she had been wearing, but was now a black ball gown.  
  
"What the heck is going on here?" She tugged at the silk folds to make sure it was  
  
real.  
  
The light ran into the side of her face to get her attention. It beckoned her to  
  
follow it up the staircase again.  
  
She folded her arms and tossed her head back in defiance. "Why should I? I don't  
  
want to." Her voice was petulant.  
  
The light sighed. The noise startled Rita and she tripped over the hem of her dress  
  
again as she backed away.  
  
"Whoever's in charge here should stop making these dresses so long. I'm not that  
  
tall." She grumbled as she picked herself up.  
  
The light hovered closer to her face. "You must follow me." It said.  
  
"So you DO talk!" Rita pointed an accusing finger at the light.  
  
"Oh do stop being so childish!" The light smacked Rita in the forehead.  
  
"Get away!" She swatted at it.  
  
"Would you listen to me for a moment! Thank you!" Rita sat down quickly on a  
  
step. "Now you've got two choices. One you can follow me up those stairs and get back to  
  
your life and loved ones. Or, two, you can stay here. I must warn you that if you stay here  
  
you will never see that young man. oh, what is his name. Fox. Yes, it's Fox. You will  
  
never see him again if you stay here."  
  
"Why? I don't understand what's going on here!" Tears streamed down Rita's  
  
face.  
  
The light sighed again. "I will put it this way.you stay here you will die. If you  
  
come with me up those stairs then you might live. But you must try to make it all the way  
  
up. I warn you that it will not be easy, but fighting for your life never is." With that the  
  
light began to hover up the staircase.  
  
Rita sat staring after it dumbly for a moment. Then she got to her feet, and began  
  
to walk up the endless stairway following the light. ~*~ There was a small jump on the heart monitor. Shortly following it came a few  
  
more. Then a regular beat began to pulse across it, it was weak, but at least it was there.  
  
"We've got her back!"  
  
"Try to stabilize her."  
  
The doctors began their frenzy again, just as they had almost completely given up  
  
hope. Fox now sat in a chair, his chin propped up in his hand. His eyes stared into the  
  
distance as if he saw something there that no one else could.  
  
A doctor entered the waiting room, and sat down beside him. The doctor cleared  
  
his throat. "Mr. McCloud?"  
  
Fox continued to stare into the distance.  
  
"Mr. McCloud?" The doctor gently touched his arm.  
  
Fox jumped out of the chair with a start, almost hitting the doctor in the process.  
  
"Sorry." he mumbled as he began to pace again.  
  
"Mr. McCloud, I."  
  
Fox quickly whipped around and faced the doctor. "Rita? How's Rita? Is she  
  
alright?"  
  
The doctor raised his hand to silence him. "She's alive." Fox nearly collapsed in  
  
relief. "We were able to stabilize her. However," he cautioned, "there is still no guarantee  
  
that she will live."  
  
Fox nearly tackled the doctor. "Where is she? I want to see her."  
  
"We don't allow." the doctor began, but decided not to finish. Fox had a  
  
determined look in his eyes that left no room for argument. "Just like your father.  
  
Follow me."  
  
The doctor led Fox to a darkened room. Rita lay in a bed near the middle of the  
  
room. IV's and tubes ran everywhere. There were several IV's in her arms, and a heart  
  
monitor sat next to the bed quietly beeping out Rita's pulse like a metronome.  
  
Fox sat down in a chair next to the bed. "We've done all we can." Said the doctor.  
  
"Only time will tell the rest." He turned to leave the room. Halfway to the door he  
  
stopped and added, "She must be very strong to have lived this long. I think she might  
  
have the will to survive." Saying that he exited.  
  
Fox gently took one of Rita's hands in his, careful not to bump any of the IV's  
  
loose. "Ri? Can you hear me?" He gently stroked her fingers in a soothing manner.  
  
"Rita." a tear ran down his cheek.  
  
Wiping the tear away he stared down at her. She was so pale, and her breathing  
  
was shallow. "Why did you jump in front of me? Why?" his voice cracked with emotion.  
  
He lowered his head on to the sheets beside her and sobbed. "Why did this have to  
  
happen. I don't want to lose you. You're all I have left."  
  
Carefully he stood up and gathered Rita's long red hair into his hand. Gently he  
  
tied it into a braid as he had done may times when they were young. "You don't want to  
  
get your hair tangled in any of these tubes now, do you?" He continued to talk to her. ~*~ Rita stumbled up more of the steps. Each step was getting harder and harder to  
  
take, and the long black ball gown only made the trek harder.  
  
She felt like she had walked for days on end with no rest. It had been easier at  
  
first, but after a while she had started to hear mocking voices behind her. Soon after the  
  
voices came faces had appeared at the sides of the stairway. They were hideously twisted  
  
and grotesque like faces in the mirrors of a fun house, only these faces jeered at her as  
  
she tried to climb the stairs.  
  
Finally she grew so weary that she collapsed on the stairs. The voices and faces  
  
mocked her louder, "You can't make it!" "Give up!" "Come with us!"  
  
She struggled to pull herself up, but could not get back on her feet. Desperately  
  
she crawled up the steps pulling herself with her hands. The light came to rest in front of  
  
her. "Rest a moment." It said.  
  
"No!" Rita gritted her teeth and continued to pull herself up the stairs.  
  
Her vision blurred and she collapsed again. Instead of feeling the cold hard  
  
marble beneath her she felt a softness. She raised her head and saw that she was no  
  
longer on the stairs, but in a lush garden. The voices and faces were gone, but the light  
  
sat in the grass by Rita's hand.  
  
"You can rest now." Said the light. "You are out of danger now."  
  
"I'm not tired now." She got to her feet and brushed the grass of her cream-  
  
colored summer dress. The grass was soft and cool under her bare feet as she walked  
  
around the small garden.  
  
Flowers of all shapes and sizes bloomed everywhere. Each had a delicate scent  
  
that smelled so sweet to her. "I still don't understand all of this." She said as she smelled  
  
a rose.  
  
The light came next to her and made a soft noise like a hum or a purr. "Don't you  
  
remember? The enemy base? You knew that your friend would die, so you jumped in front  
  
of him. You saved his life by sacrificing your own."  
  
"Oh. I remember." she trailed off as the memory came back. "But what is this  
  
place?"  
  
The light settled in her hand. "This is where your spirit is while you fight for your  
  
life in the real world. This place isn't real. not exactly. Most of what you see came out of  
  
your own mind.It's like you were testing yourself to see if you would live or not. I can't  
  
explain it to you very well, you wouldn't understand."  
  
"I'm not stupid!"  
  
"I know you're not. but to explain this is to explain the universe, and no mortal  
  
being can understand that." The light purred again.  
  
"Who are you?" Rita asked quirking an eyebrow.  
  
The light floated out of her hand and settled on the grass about five feet away.  
  
Slowly it expanded and took the shape of a vixen about Rita's size and shape. The  
  
yellowish light faded away and an arctic fox stood before Rita. The other vixen's hair was  
  
white with a slightly bluish hue to it. "My name is Yuki."  
  
"Uh." Rita gaped at her. "Is that what you really look like or is this one of those  
  
things where you'll take on what ever shape I'm most familiar with?"  
  
Yuki giggled. "This is what I look like." She held out her hand to Rita. "I am your  
  
mother." She stated simply.  
  
Rita's eyes went wide. "You're my WHAT!?" She backed away from Yuki, and  
  
tripped over a tree root. "Well at least it wasn't the dress this time." she muttered.  
  
The other vixen helped her to her feet. "I know that this is surprising to you."  
  
"No crap." Rita's voice dripped with sarcasm.  
  
"I did not want to leave you, but I had no choice. It was to protect you. I wish that  
  
I could say something to assuage you, but I know how you feel about this subject." She  
  
clasped her daughter's hand firmly. "I will tell you all I can about what happened. My  
  
husband and I were so happy when we found out that we were to have a kit. But it was  
  
around that same time he started to work with the scientist named Andross. I don't need  
  
to tell you about him. Over the next few months your father became twisted with the idea  
  
of power that Andross promised him. In return for power Andross wanted you. He said  
  
that your genes were perfect for creating a. a.I don't know what it is! But it would  
  
have been horrible. He said that it would be the ultimate tool to gain power. A living  
  
weapon that would be almost unstoppable, but would look perfectly normal, not like his  
  
other living weapons."  
  
"You mean a bio-weapon?" Rita's voice was barely audible. "That bastard wanted  
  
to turn me into a bio-weapon."  
  
"That was what he called it! Genetics were never my strong point. your father  
  
agreed to let him experiment on you after you were born. I didn't want him to have my  
  
baby, and I wasn't going to allow him to turn you into some sort of tool. I tried to starve  
  
myself so the child would never be born, but that didn't work, you always were stubborn,  
  
weren't you. I was fortunate that he was gone the night you were born, or I don't know  
  
what I would have done. But after you were born I crept out of the house and left you on  
  
the front step of my best childhood friend. I don't know if Vixy would have recognized me,  
  
I hadn't seen her since I was 12. but she always loved children. I made sure she came to  
  
the door, and I left only when she had taken you inside. My husband was waiting for me  
  
when I returned home. He was furious at me. So furious that he beat me horribly and  
  
demanded to know where I'd taken you. I refused to tell him, and ever since he's made my  
  
life a living hell. I wished that I would die, but I could not.Your uncle, Kaji, is the only  
  
reason that I'm still alive today. He is a good man, and has kept me comforted at a  
  
distance. He lives in Corneria City. someday it will be vital that you find him, so this  
  
nightmare can end. Your father MUST be stopped!"(* author's note: In Japanese "kaji" (Ka Gee)  
  
means 'fire', "yuki" (You Key) means 'snow')  
  
"Wait a second." Rita eyed her suspiciously, "You mean you're not dead? Then  
  
how can you be here? And how the heck am I supposed to help stop this psycho you claim  
  
is my father?"  
  
"I don't think you need to know any more." She trailed off then hugged Rita  
  
close to her. "I never wanted you to come to any harm. I hope you can forgive me for  
  
what I did. I know that Vixy will always be your 'mom', but just knowing that you grew up  
  
in a good family makes me eternally happy."  
  
Rita hugged her back. "I'm still incredibly confused."  
  
Yuki placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You  
  
have my eyes." she whispered half to herself. Shaking her head she continued, "You  
  
won't remember any of this when you wake up, at least if you do remember anything it  
  
will be as obscure as a dream that you can't remember in the morning. Even though you  
  
won't remember this I feel that I must tell you something." She looked down at her feet.  
  
Resolutely she looked Rita in the eye again. "Your dad, I mean James not my husband,  
  
didn't die."  
  
Rita felt her knees grow weak. "Dad's still alive?" her voice was faint.  
  
Yuki nodded, "But he is still in danger. Andross is keeping him captive. Who  
  
knows what that mad man is planning to do to him." She sighed. "I wish that there was  
  
someway for you to remember this when you wake."  
  
"The dreams!" Rita yelled suddenly. "What about the dreams!?"  
  
"Dreams?" Sinead looked confused. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Rita began to pace nervously in the garden. "I had dreams, before we went on the  
  
mission, where I got shot. But in the dreams it was Fox who got shot. So when it really  
  
happened I jumped in front of him and the bullet hit me instead." Rita talked rapidly.  
  
"Maybe when I wake up I'll have another dream about Dad, and then. then." She  
  
began to cry.  
  
Yuki stared at her daughter. "I didn't know that you saw that. I don't know why  
  
you had those dreams.but you saw it happen before it happened, and you were able to  
  
change it."She looked thoughtful for a moment. "You must have inherited that from me  
  
as well."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Rita wiped away a stream of tears.  
  
Her mother sighed and looked down at her feet again. " I'm a psychic. Not a very  
  
powerful one, but I'm powerful enough to predict what will, or can, happen in the near  
  
future. Of course I'm not always 100% right, but who is?" She looked up again. "You  
  
must have gotten it from me."  
  
Rita shook her head. "Look. er. Yuki.uh.mother.I'm no psychic. Don't you  
  
think that if I were I would have had this experience before? Someone like you, or  
  
something, must have. have. given me that dream. You know, like divine  
  
intervention?" She only sounded half-convinced of her theory.  
  
Yuki crossed her arms and shook her head. "Despite all the stories you hear about  
  
'divine intervention' it doesn't happen. You are the only one that dream, or vision, could  
  
have come from. Like it or not, you have got some power." She got a smug 'I told you so  
  
look on her face'. "It may just be that you are more in tune with what is going to happen  
  
to those you hold dear. Or maybe, you do see other things, but you just dismiss them as  
  
odd dreams."  
  
Rita looked skeptical. "If 'divine intervention' isn't allowed then why are you  
  
talking to me right now? How can you be here at all if you're still alive? If this all came  
  
from my head then that's not possible. I didn't even know you existed before now. This is  
  
all highly unbelievable."  
  
"It is hard to explain this to you. It doesn't matter though, you won't remember  
  
any of this when you wake up."  
  
"Then why bother telling me at all?"  
  
"Consider this like a spirit plane that connects to the 'real world'. Here we are not  
  
physically real, but are here only in spirit. or you could say that our souls inhabit this  
  
world. Only the dead, the dying, and those with certain 'mental' capabilities can come  
  
here"  
  
"You're not making much sense..." Rita muttered.  
  
"Okay, so the reason I can tell you this, and the reason I even bother to tell you is  
  
because. oh, how to explain it.It is like my soul giving your soul new strength and  
  
wisdom. You won't remember it, but it will affect you. You will have more of a sense of  
  
understanding about yourself when you wake." Yuki rested her hand on Rita's arm. "That  
  
is all I can say."  
  
"I still don't get it." the thoughts swam through Rita's head like piranhas  
  
attacking a cow.  
  
Mother embraced daughter one last time. "I love you, Rita. I always will. But you  
  
have your family too, and he needs you as much as you need him." The arctic fox vixen  
  
began to glow with the yellowish light again. Slowly the light contracted into a tiny ball  
  
as it was before. It floated up to Rita and purred at her one last time, then faded out.  
  
She stood still for a moment. "Now what do I do?" her question directed at no one  
  
in particular. "Do I wake up now? Or am I supposed to find my way out of this place  
  
too?"  
  
A hand gently touched her shoulder. "I will show you the way home." Said a  
  
familiar female voice. It was a voice that Rita had not heard in a long time.  
  
"Mom?" She turned to find Vixy standing behind her. Her knees finally gave out.  
  
"What a day," she mumbled to herself, "I keep falling down."  
  
Vixy helped her to her feet, then she embraced her 'daughter' in a warm hug.  
  
"Come with me, my little Rita. It's time for you to go home." She led her to a wooden door  
  
hidden in the side of a hedge. "This is the hardest part of your journey. Follow your heart  
  
and it will take you back to Fox."  
  
Rita hesitated for a moment and looked at Vixy with tears in her eyes. "I love you,  
  
Mom."  
  
"I love you to, Ri. Someday all of us, you, Fox, James and I will all be together. I  
  
promise, but it will not be for a very long time." With a gentle smile she stroked Rita's  
  
hair as she had done countless times all those years ago. "Go now, and follow your  
  
heart."  
  
Rita stepped through the door. Instantly everything melted away into a thick  
  
choking blackness. For a moment Rita thought she knew how the dinosaurs felt when they  
  
got trapped in tar pits. But this was worse, so much worse. She struggled to fight her way  
  
though the blackness.  
  
In the distance she thought she could hear someone talking. It was faint and hard  
  
to hear. She tried desperately to call out to it, but no words would come out. She felt as if  
  
she were trapped. Her arms and legs refused to move and her voice wouldn't come back  
  
to her.  
  
Little by little it sounded as if the voice was coming nearer. It sounded more  
  
familiar to her now. She struggled harder to get closer to it. ~*~ Fox started suddenly. He had been dozing in the chair again next to Rita's hospital  
  
bed. Something had woken him. Looking around he couldn't find anything amiss in the  
  
room.  
  
"Guess I'm just paranoid." He told Rita's still form. "Are you waking up?" He  
  
asked her, "Is that what woke me up?"  
  
"You probably woke yourself up." grumbled Falco from the doorway. "You  
  
were talking loud enough in your sleep." The avian yawned. "You want some coffee? I  
  
was just going to get some."  
  
Fox wasn't listening to Falco, he was watching Rita closely. "She moved her  
  
hand."  
  
"Fox!" Falco groaned. "Don't start that again. You just ended up upsetting  
  
yourself the last time you did that."  
  
"She moved her hand!" Fox insisted getting out of his chair and standing next to  
  
the bed. "Rita?" he touched her cheek softly. "Can you hear me? Rita?"  
  
"Oh good lord." Falco grumbled as he stormed out of the room as quietly as  
  
possible. Fox continued talking to Rita.  
  
Peppy came into the room a few moments later. "Fox, don't upset yourself again.  
  
The doctors are sick of having to sedate y." he trailed off. Quickly he walked to the  
  
other side of the bed and looked down at Rita. "Keep talking." He urged, "I think she can  
  
hear you."  
  
Fox looked up, speechless at what the hare had just said.  
  
"I can faintly sense something from her. It's very, very faint, but it's there." Peppy  
  
explained. ~*~ Fox's voice was so close to her now. And she heard others too. 'Was that Falco?  
  
Peppy! I hear you! Fox!' She tried to scream the words, but they still wouldn't come.  
  
The blackness was thicker now, choking her worse than before. She could feel  
  
pain in her chest, very close to her heart. Even though it was thicker, it didn't seem as  
  
black. It was almost as if someone were trying to light the way for her.  
  
She tried to call out again, but still no success. She continued to struggle her way  
  
closer to the voices. Her right arm seemed to move a bit easier for a moment, then it  
  
became as hard to move as it had been before. ~*~ Rita's right arm moved slightly. Fox and Peppy began to talk louder to her.  
  
"I know she hears us now." Said Peppy with a sigh. "I just hope that she'll wake  
  
up."  
  
"She will. I know she will." Fox answered. ~*~ The voices were louder now. She could hear them calling out to her. 'They know!  
  
They're trying to show me the way!' she thought to herself as she continued to struggle.  
  
"Fox! Help me! I'm here!" The words finally came, though it hurt to say them. The  
  
pain in her chest grew worse.  
  
Despite the pain she struggled with a renewed energy to get out of the blackness. ~*~ Fox almost hit the ceiling with joy when Rita uttered a small moan. "She's waking  
  
up! She's trying to wake up!"  
  
Peppy silently hoped that Fox was right. He watched as Fox gently took Rita's  
  
right hand in his hands, and stroked her fingers gently, as he had done countless times  
  
since Rita had been comatose. ~*~ It hurt too much for Rita to call out again. Her throat was raw, and the pain in  
  
her chest was getting worse. She had never felt such pain in her life.  
  
Despite it all she struggled closer. Fox's voice was so close to her now. Peppy's  
  
voice came and went, but Fox's was always there.  
  
She felt someone take her hand. She gripped the hand with all her strength, but  
  
she felt so weak. It was hard to hold on, but she let the hand pull her closer to the light.  
  
It was getting brighter. Not very bright, but the darkness was fading a bit, and it  
  
was losing some of its tar like grip on her body.  
  
Her body felt heavier.  
  
Fox's voice was right beside her, calling her name.  
  
She had no strength. She couldn't move.  
  
Peppy's voice. He sounded worried.  
  
There was light nearby. Figures were silhouetted against it. The pain was unbearable. ~*~ Rita's fingers had gently squeezed Fox's hand for a moment. "She moved! She  
  
squeezed my hand!" He almost shouted in his excitement. In his eyes emotions mixed,  
  
Peppy could see worry, and nervousness mixed in with the excitement. And fear.  
  
They began talking to her more rapidly now. Either she wakes up now or she  
  
doesn't wake up at all, thought Peppy. She's certainly trying to wake up.  
  
Fox nearly collapsed on the floor. Peppy suddenly realized that Rita was looking  
  
up at them. A small half whimper of pain escaped from her.  
  
Peppy quickly ran out into the hall to get a doctor. He ran screaming through the  
  
hallway, "She's AWAKE! She's awake!"  
  
Falco burst into the room none too quietly. Slippy was right behind him. Fox  
  
ignored them both as he listened and watched Rita.  
  
She vaguely gestured at the wound on her chest, ". hurts. awful. pain." the  
  
words were barely a whisper. Her hand rested on her belly, she was too tired to move it  
  
any more.  
  
Fox carefully stroked her braid. "Hang on, Ri. Peppy's going to find a doctor."  
  
She nodded slightly. ".so. tired." she whispered as she closed her eyes.  
  
Fox worried until he took her hand and she gave it a gentle squeeze. "Just rest.  
  
You need it." He said as he bent over the bed and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.  
  
"but try to get well soon. I miss having you beat me up." He whispered in her ear ~*~ Rita was propped up in bed examining the place where the bullet had hit. "The  
  
wonders of modern medicine." she muttered, "not even a mark. furs just a bit thinner,  
  
but the doc says it'll grow back."  
  
Fox stood next to the bed. "So did he say how soon you'd be able to leave?"  
  
She sighed, "He wants me to stay here for another few weeks. Then I'll be able to  
  
go home. as long as there's someone to take care of me for a while. He doesn't want me  
  
on my feet for a while yet."  
  
"Don't worry, Ri! We'll take good care of you." He bent down and kissed her  
  
forehead.  
  
"Argh! I feel like such an invalid! I've been stuck in this stupid hospital for three  
  
months. not counting the time I was in the coma." She tossed a pillow across the  
  
room. Looking up at Fox she said, "But I'd do it all over again if I had to."  
  
"Like heck you would! I wouldn't let you!"  
  
"I'd like to see you try and stop me!"  
  
"Ha! Easy! I'd just do this!" Fox poked Rita in the stomach.  
  
"Hey, no fair!" she laughed. "You know I'm most ticklish there! Hee hee."  
  
Fox laughed, "It's this year's most wanted Christmas toy. Tickle-me-Rita!" He  
  
had her writhing in laughter as he continued to poke her stomach.  
  
"Ha ha ha. stop it! This is no way to treat an injured person! Ha ha. See if I  
  
save you again! Hee hee hee." She swatted his hand away, and he finally stopped.  
  
Fox sighed as he checked his watch. "I've gotta go. I'll see you as soon as we get  
  
back." He gave her hand a firm squeeze.  
  
"Where are you off to this time?" She asked absent-mindedly rubbing the spot  
  
where she'd been shot.  
  
"Macbeth." He answered as he retrieved the pillow Rita had thrown earlier.  
  
"Good luck!" She said still rubbing the place where her wound had been. "I wish I  
  
could go with you, but the doc says I'm not going to be flying anything for awhile." She  
  
gave weak smile.  
  
He walked back over to the bed. "You'll be up and about sooner than you think.  
  
You always were stubborn." He smiled as he gave her a hug. "I have to go now, but I'll be  
  
back in a few days."  
  
Rita threw the pillow at him as he left the room. "You'd better come back, or I'll  
  
just have to come after you!" ~*~ Fox paced back and forth in the rec room. He was very upset. Finally he lost it  
  
and threw a pile of magazines across the room. "Damn it!" he yelled tossing couch  
  
cushions at the walls, "How could he have gotten away!? How!?"  
  
Rita and Falco cautiously peered around the doorframe as Fox continued his  
  
tirade. "He's not taking this well at all." muttered Falco.  
  
"Glad you noticed, Einstein." Rita elbowed him in the ribs so he'd give her a bit  
  
more space. "I'm not really enthused about this whole mess myself."  
  
"Who is?" Falco's voice dripped with sarcasm.  
  
The war was over. For now. Star Fox had successfully breached all of Andross's  
  
defenses. Unfortunately, Andross had rigged a dummy for them, and had escaped while  
  
they destroyed his telekinetic amplifier. Fox had gone ballistic when he found out that  
  
he'd gotten away.  
  
All of Andross's forces had crumbled when their leader retreated. Only a few  
  
remained and those were the one's that Andross had taken with him. Star Wolf escorted  
  
Andross's remaining troops to a safe place to regroup. It would only be a matter of time  
  
before he rebuilt his forces and tried to take over Lylat again.  
  
Until then the Lylatians were rebuilding their lives and trying to clean up their  
  
homes from Andross's reign of terror. General Pepper was working full time trying to  
  
build up the defense forces to be ready when the time came. He was not going to be  
  
caught off guard this time.  
  
No one knew how long it would take Andross to regroup, but everyone was  
  
making preparations for when he did.  
  
As for Star Fox.  
  
Fox had been stomping around for the last week in a fit of rage. He felt that he  
  
had failed by not killing Andross. Pepper and the rest of the Lylatians felt that he was a  
  
hero for getting Andross out of Lylat. With Andross gone they would have time to build  
  
up defenses and be ready when the mad ape tried again. Many hoped that he wouldn't  
  
return, but that was highly unlikely, unless he died during his exile.  
  
Peppy was glad to have the time to rest after the harsh war. He worried that he  
  
would be too old to help next time Andross struck though.  
  
Slippy was happily helping his father improve the Arwing's design. They had  
  
already overhauled the G-diffuser system so that it was much more effective.  
  
Falco had been enraged after the final battle, but he decided to vent his rage next  
  
time Andross struck. Until then he and Katt were getting to know each other a LOT  
  
better.  
  
Rita had finally gotten out of the hospital for good the day after the final battle.  
  
The doctors had said she was fine to do what she liked, but that she shouldn't push it for a  
  
while yet. The nurses were glad to get her out of their hair. They were getting a bit tired  
  
of her getting up and walking around when she wasn't supposed to.  
  
Fox's rage finally calmed a bit and he slumped into a chair, burying his face in his  
  
hands. Rita gently walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He pulled her  
  
into his lap and rested his head on her shoulder. He sat like that, unmoving, for a long  
  
time.  
  
He stood up, carefully sliding Rita into the chair as he got up. "I'm going to get  
  
that bastard." He hissed under his breath, "I'm going to make sure he doesn't ruin our  
  
lives anymore than he already has." With that he stormed off down the hall.  
  
Rita sighed and slouched in the chair.  
  
"Well. he was calm for a little while anyway." Falco walked up behind her  
  
and flopped onto the couch. "Rooms a frigging mess." he muttered. ~*~ Rita looked up from the book she was reading as Fox slowly walked into the  
  
room. He flopped down into a chair and sighed loudly. "Feeling better?" she asked.  
  
"No." his answer was curt and she could hear the anger in his voice.  
  
She set her book down and looked at him. Finally she said, "You're gonna give  
  
yourself gray fur if you don't relax."  
  
He looked up at her and narrowed his eyes. "McCloud's don't get gray fur." He  
  
stated.  
  
"You will if you don't start stressing out. You're not going to get Andross by  
  
stomping around and being a complete ass. Take this opportunity to practice and get  
  
ready for when, or if, Andross strikes again. The more we're prepared the better chance  
  
we have of kicking his hieny for good." She picked up her book and started to read  
  
again.  
  
Fox gaped at her. She never talked to him like that, at least not seriously, but she  
  
was definitely serious this time. "Pardon?" he asked.  
  
"You heard me."  
  
He got up and pulled the book out of her hands. "It's not like you to get  
  
philosophical on me."  
  
"I'd hardly say that was philosophical." She tried to grad the book, but he held it  
  
out of her reach. "No fair using my height disadvantage." she grumbled as she tugged at  
  
his arm.  
  
He sighed and tossed the book back to her. "You're right you know. I've been a  
  
complete ass lately. I've been going about this all wrong." he walked out of the room  
  
with his head bowed.  
  
Rita followed him. "Look, I wasn't trying to insult you. I was just pointing out  
  
what I observed." she shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Gah! I am getting  
  
philosophical!"  
  
He stopped walking and turned to face her. Silently he took her in his arms and  
  
hugged her. "What's wrong, Ri?'  
  
"I've got this feeling like there's something I've got to do, but I don't know what it  
  
is." She buried her face in his chest.  
  
Fox looked confused. "Like forget to turn the oven off or something like that?"  
  
She shook her head and stepped away from him. "No. More like I've got  
  
something important to do, but I've forgotten. Only I don't have anything important to do,  
  
not that I know of." She started to walk away. "It's almost like that premonition stuff  
  
Peppy keeps telling me about."  
  
Fox shrugged and followed her. To be continued. Author's note: I'd like to say that the only reason I ended this like I did is because. I  
  
suck at endings. and it was getting a bit long, so I wanted to cut it short (and I'd never  
  
have gotten it done if I wrote it all out at once!) Rita LaShette, Yuki, Kaji, and Rita's Father (whoever that is!) are all my characters.  
  
Please do not use them with out my permission! I'll probably say "yes", but I like to know  
  
what I'm being used in. Thanks to F.J. McCloud, Ace McLeod, and Chris S. (John Robertson) for proofreading  
  
(most of it) and giving me the encouragement to keep writing! Thanks guys! All the other stuff. StarFox, James McCloud, Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy  
  
Toad, Peppy Hare, General Pepper, Katt Monroe, Bill Grey, Wolf O'Donnell, Leon  
  
Powalski, Andrew Oikonny, Pigma Dengar, and Andross are all property of Nintendo  
  
and are used without permission. Vixy Reinard, and Fara Phoenix were created by Benimaru Itoh, and are probably  
  
property of Nintendo as well. they are also used without permission. 


	2. Part Two

Rita's Story Part Two: Where Do We Go From Here?  
  
By: Rita LaShette (Kyla DeYoung) The mist swirled. It enveloped Rita in its gauzy deep embrace. She stood perfectly still, not wanting to take a wrong step and end up with a broken leg, or worse. How did I get here? She started, as her thoughts seemed to echo in the air around her. She remembered the feeling she was having. She'd felt if before she was sure. How did I get here!? Her thought was more panicked. I'm only asleep! This is just a dream! She told herself not really sure if she believed it or not. The mist swirled faster and Rita could have sworn that she felt it grab at her legs. A soft taunting giggle echoed through the thick mist. A whisper followed the giggle, but its words were indistinguishable. Rita strained to her ears to listen, but still couldn't make out the words. She thought that maybe she'd heard a second voice whispering with the first. Carefully she tried to remember what she'd been doing before she'd found herself in this strange misty place. Fox was talking. What was he talking about? General Pepper! Right! Andross. I remember Andross had gathered more forces and was getting ready to attack again. And Pepper needed us to help defend Lylat! Then. what happened after that? I don't remember. The voices escalated into a loud wild gibbering. Their words still made no sense. Then they started laughing in high shrill screams. Rita's skin crawled at the sound of it and some of her fur stood out on end. Peppy watched Rita sleeping on the rec room couch. He sensed that she was troubled, but it seemed faint and distant. Fox leaned over and scratched her ears when a slightly troubled look came over her face. Then he went back to playing vid-games against Falco and Slippy. Something rubbed against Rita's ears. It didn't feel hostile; in fact it felt a bit comforting. The shrieking laughter continued and she was forced to cover her ears. Then one of the voices spoke so she could understand what it said, "Poor little girl!" it mocked, "Afraid and alone! All alone!" "Hope the boogey man doesn't get her!" the other voice piped in. "Run away little girl before the boogey man comes!" At that precise moment an object sailed over her head and landed at her feet. The mist pulled back a bit and she found herself staring down at Andross's severed head. Rita fought back the sudden overwhelming urge to gag. Then the head moved and stared back up at her grinning. She screamed and backed away quickly. Her backward progress was abruptly halted when a pair of arms closed around her, one hand clamped down on her muzzle and cut off her screams. "The boogey man has got you now!" chanted the first voice. "That's not the boogey man!" said the second, "but he's probably just as bad!" Both voices started their shrieking laughter again. "Hello, love." Wolf O'Donnell's voice said in her ear. The hand that didn't have a grip on her muzzle began to wander about her body. Rita struggled harder to get away, but she only seemed to become more entangled in Wolf's embrace. "Soon, love, soon!" he whispered. Then he released her and she felt like she was falling. Around her the scene vanished into darkness. Rita sat upright on the couch suddenly and screamed. Fox was beside her in less than an instant, asking her questions in rapid succession. "Geez, Fox! Give her a little room to breathe!" Slippy suggested. Rita flopped back down and sighed. "It was just a bad dream. No need to get worked up about it!" she laughed half-heartedly. It had felt so real to her, and the image of Andross's severed head still burned bright in her mind. As did the feel of Wolf's hands touching her body. She shivered. "Okay, If you say so." Fox leaned over and kissed her forehead gently. Falco snickered, "Why don't you two get a room?" He ducked just as one of the couch cushions sailed over his head. Peppy quietly snuck out of the room as a full-scale pillow fight began. Thirty minutes or so later the rec room looked as if a tornado had run through it and jumped up and down on things a few times, then just for good measure, kicked all the furniture. But, of course, there aren't any tornadoes in the middle of space, so they blamed it on Falco. Rita lay in bed with the covers tucked up tightly under her chin. She stared at the ceiling of her room waiting for sleep to come. Realizing that she probably wouldn't get any sleep that night she rolled over and sighed softly. The room was completely dark except for a small sliver of light the came from under the door, where it didn't fit correctly in it's sliding track anymore. She made a mental note to ask Slippy if he could do anything about it. The dream vision she'd had earlier still haunted her. She'd taken an extra long shower before going to bed and had scrubbed at her body where she swore she could still feel Wolf's touch. Half of the fur on certain parts of her body had been scrubbed off before Falco got impatient and turned off the hot water connection to the bathroom. He'd gotten his beak tweaked for that. Shivering again from her thoughts, she quietly got out of bed and padded down the hall to Fox's room. She peeked in and found him fast asleep with half of the covers thrown off the bed. The door closed almost silently behind her, only making a soft whooshing noise. Rita picked up a blanket from the floor where it had been tossed off the bed and wrapped up in it, as her short nightdress wasn't very warm. Carefully she curled up on the bed next to Fox, trying not to wake him. He groaned softly. "Ri?" he mumbled. Damn, she thought. "'S me." She answered out loud. "Couldn't sleep." "Mmm." he trailed off and his breathing got deeper. He'd fallen asleep again. "Hold me, I'm scared." She said in a barely audible voice. She didn't expect him to respond, she just felt better saying it. Fox mumbled something in his sleep, then rolled over and put an arm around her. Rita snuggled in closer. He probably didn't mean to, but I'm going to take advantage of this while I can, she thought as she slowly drifted closer to the edges of sleep. She almost swore she'd heard him say 'I love you' as she drifted off to sleep, but later decided that she'd been dreaming already. When she woke the next morning Fox was already gone. He had tucked his comforter around her so she wouldn't get cold before he left. The door to the room opened as she rolled over. Fox walked in wrapped in a towel and using another to dry his hair. " 'S about time you woke up!" He said cheerfully. "Peppy's almost got breakfast ready." He rifled through his closet looking for clothes. Finally locating his pants he turned back to face her. "You going to go or are you going to sit there and watch me get dressed?" Rita grinned and twirled a piece of her hair through her fingers. "Given the choice I think I'll stay and watch." He blushed and sputtered something. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "If you say so." The next thing she knew there was a towel over her face. By the time she got untangled from it Fox already had his boxers on and had just pulled his pants up. She got out of bed and headed for the door, making sure to grab Fox's behind before running at top speed down the hall. She yelled something as she bolted past the kitchen. "What'd she say?" Slippy inquired. "Sounded like 'I was in the same room with a naked man'". Falco answered between mouthfuls just as Fox ran past in pursuit of the flame-haired vixen. Fox yelled as he chased her. "I know why they call you vixens now! Just wait'll I catch you!" a few seconds later there was a loud laugh then the sound of some metal objects hitting the floor in a loud crash. Fox strolled back into the kitchen with Rita draped over his neck like a scarf. He held one of her arms in one hand and her leg in the other. Her nightdress had adjusted itself around her hips and she was unsuccessfully using her free hand to pull it into a more modest position. "What's for breakfast?" "Nice underwear, Rita!" snickered Falco. "Shut up, bird-boy." "O'DONNELL!" Andross's voice thundered through the base. "GET DOWN HERE NOW!" The shouts echoed off the walls for a few seconds then died away. Wolf carefully folded a photo cut from an old newspaper and placed it in a small box, which was in turn securely put in a locked drawer. He sighed. "I wonder if he's ever even thought of using an intercom system or a comm unit of some sort." Reluctantly he made sure the drawer was locked the plodded out of his room to see what Andross wanted this time. Leon and Pigma watched him leave, then ran into his room. "Where'd he put it?" Pigma's voice screeched. Leon narrowed his eyes at his teammate the produced a lock-pick kit from his shirt. Selecting one of the tools he deftly opened the lock on the drawer that Wolf had placed the box in. Within seconds they had the box open and were perusing it's contents. "Why is he so protective of all these photos and old newspaper clippings?" Pigma sounded bored. "Stupid mutton-chop!" hissed Leon. "They're all pictures of the same person!" he waved a small photo that had been cut from a yearbook under the fat swine's nose. Pigma angrily snatched the picture from Leon. Leon could almost see the light come on in the dim recesses of Pigma's head when he realized who was in the photo. Pigma began to laugh in his high-pitched porcine laugh. "Her!" he squealed. "All these pictures are of her!" "Apparently he's got quite an obsession with her." Leon said as he dug a photo out of the pile. "And has had it for quite some time." He held up the photo so Pigma could see it. It was a picture of Rita at about the age of 14. She was sitting at a desk hunched over some indistinguishable homework. Her Academy uniform was wrinkled and it looked as if she'd been sitting there for quite a while. The photo had been taken through a window. Another was a picture of Rita cut out of a newspaper. She was sitting on a bench in what was probably a flower garden. A light colored sundress hung down to her ankles and she look very pale. The caption under the picture read: "LaShette shortly after being released from hospital, where she spent extensive time in recovery for a gun shot wound." Pigma laughed at the newspaper photo. "What a deceiving picture! She's not that calm or pretty!" He squealed in mirth. Leon ruffled through a few more photos then stashed them back in the box. "If we ever catch her we should let him have her." He smiled maliciously. "I wonder what StarFox would do to get her back." He placed the box back in the drawer and locked it. He kicked Pigma, who'd started searching under the bed for any lost bit of food that might have ended up there. "Fat, disgusting glutton," he muttered as he left the room. As soon as Leon had seated himself in the rec area with a book Wolf come back looking slightly pissed. Pigma could still be heard rooting around in Wolf's room Wolf grumbled something like a greeting in Leon's direction the stomped off to his room. "PIGMA! My room is not a cafeteria! OUT!" There was a the sound of crashing, then Pigma came waddling out as fast as his pudgy legs would carry him, which wasn't very fast. "He's cranky." Muttered Pigma as he waddled into the kitchenette. "Don't eat all the food, pork chop." Was Leon's reply. Wolf slammed his door and locked it. He sighed deeply then unlocked the drawer and pulled out the box of photos. "Rita, dearest, it won't be long now. I promise." He pulled out the newspaper clipping of her after she got out of the hospital. He touched it gently and ran a finger along the line of her face. "You looked so weak then. It was Fox's fault that you got hurt. He should have died that day. Instead you almost did." he trailed off and picked up another photo. It was the most recent photo he had of her and had been the hardest to come by. A spy had managed to steal it from the photographer (as per Wolf's orders, and Rita's confusion when the photographer told her what had happened). It was a professional photo that showed a head and shoulder pose of Rita resting her head on the back of her hand. She appeared to be gazing out of the photo at him. Her eyes sparkled and a coy smile played on the corners of her mouth. "Beautiful Rita." He touched the photo reverently. Then gently held it to his lips before placing it back in the box with the other photos. Once again he carefully secured the drawer, then he kicked off his boots and curled up on his bed. He pulled his pillow against himself lengthwise and wrapped his arms around it. Imagining that it was his 'love' he stroked the side of it as if it were her back. "Don't worry, dearest, we'll be together soon enough!" He fell asleep cradling the pillow in his arms. His dreams were filled with visions of a flame-haired vixen who was always just out of his reach. Falco had Slippy pinned to the floor. Rita was clinging to Falco's back and Fox had his arms wrapped around her legs. Peppy stood in the doorway laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I said left hand yellow. Left HAND!" Slippy squeaked. "I hate Twister." Grumbled Falco and Rita in unison. "Remind me again. why are we doing this?" asked Fox untangling himself from Rita's legs. Between laughs Peppy managed an answer. "It helps to build coordination and you learn how to get where you're going without getting in each others' way." He began laughing harder. "We're doomed." muttered Rita getting off Falco's back. Fox sat cross-legged on the floor. "Well, at least that was better than last time. no one got hurt!" "Speak for yourself." Groaned Slippy as Falco peeled him off the floor. "You guys are heavy!" "Tell that to chubby-fuzz-butt over there." Falco made a face at Rita. She crossed her arms and replied cheerfully, "Who wants chicken for dinner!?" "Ooh! Chicken!" Fox' ears perked up. Falco grumbled and pretended to ignore them. They heard a loud thump and turned to see Peppy rolling on the floor in hysterics. "It wasn't that funny." Fox looked up at Rita, who just shrugged. "Me thinks the 'ol boy has gone a wee bit soft in the noodle." Falco used his worst imitation of an Irish accent. Rita patted her stomach. "Noodles? Mmm. I'm getting hungry!" The tall avian groaned. "You're always hungry. It's amazing that you're still such a bean pole." She sniffed in mock indignity. "I use a lot of energy!" Peppy finally managed to pull himself together. "All right! Let's try this again!" he was greeted by a chorus of groans. "Come on now! Pepper wants us to be ready to go in less than a week. We've been lying around too long and have gotten soft. Now let's get moving!" he clapped his hands together. "He's the most unfit one in the entire group. Why isn't he doing anything?"  
  
"That was either Rita or Slippy!" said Peppy in a demanding tone. The two accused pointed at each other. "Oh, nevermind. After this I want twenty laps around the ship, all of you!" Someone grumbles something about 'work-out nazis' and Peppy narrowed his eyed but said nothing. Rita watched Fox as he practiced his roundhouse on a punching bag. She wondered to herself how he still had enough energy after the ludicrous workout Peppy had subjected them too. Fox had removed his shirt earlier and she'd been watching the muscles move under his fur with mild fascination. To most people he didn't look very imposing, but his clothes covered a very well built frame that was muscular but not bulky. Cut, Rita remembered the word Katt had used for it, trim and muscular. She really had to admit he was good looking. Not just good-looking, girls would kill each other to even get the chance to see him like this. Rita smiled to herself. Fox noticed her grinning and stopped what he was doing. "What's so funny?" His voice startled her out of her reverie. "Oh, nothing." her face flushed with her embarrassment. "Just thinking." "'Bout what?' he prompted as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Stuff." She answered evasively. He walked over to where she was leaning against the wall and placed his hands on either side of her. "Not gonna tell me, huh?" She shook her head. "Maybe I can change your mind." with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes he leaned forward and kissed her softly. She blushed again. "It was stupid really." he cut her off as he kissed her again. Rita felt her stomach flutter. She liked being this close to Fox, but was afraid of the others catching them together like this. She had no idea what any of them would say about this. So far the idea had been a joke for the group, but she doubted that they'd be so light hearted if they found that the joke was real. Her fear come from the fact that she'd been raised by his parents, even though she shared no blood relation with any McCloud. Reluctantly she pulled away from him. "Later." She said quietly. So far their relationship had only progressed past friendship by a few kisses and some intimate words. She knew that sooner or later the question of it going further than that was going to come up. But every time the thought crossed her mind she saw visions of the time Wolf had cornered her in the hanger and had tried to force himself on her. She knew that Fox would never do that, but the terror wouldn't go away. Slippy walked into the Great Fox's small gym. "Oops! Sorry!" he apologized quickly when he saw Fox and Rita so close together. "Didn't mean to. ah. interrupt." Sheepishly he backed out of the room, his embarrassment showing on his face. Fox quickly pulled away from Rita. "It's alright, Slip. Did you need something?" "Oh, yeah. Pepper's on the comm!" called the amphibian as he hurried off down the hall. Cursing softly to himself, Fox found his shirt and a towel. He toweled off some sweat from his back and chest before donning his shirt. Giving Rita one last quick kiss he trotted down the hall towards the bridge. Rita sighed and slumped against the wall. In his dream Wolf had finally caught the flame-haired vixen. Things were just starting to get interesting for him when he heard Andrew's voice somewhere in the background. "Wolf", he whined. "Uncle Andross wants to see you." Wolf's eye popped open then narrowed in disgust. Grumbling he got up and checked his watch. 0200 hours. "2 AM!" he bellowed. He could hear Andrew shuffling around outside his door as if he were trying to decide to run or not. Wolf was a notoriously bad morning person, and it was hard to get much earlier in the morning than 2 am. In a rage Wolf practically ripped the door off its track as it opened. His voice had a hard dangerous edge to it. "What does he want at 2 am?" he gritted the words out between his teeth. Andrew stuttered and crashed into the opposite wall as his legs decided to run away for him without bothering to consult his brain first. Wolf spat out a plethora of colorful epitaphs as he stomped off to see what his insane employer wanted. He found Andross in his throne room hunched over a small table, and giggling like a schoolgirl. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he made his presence known. It was usually a bad idea to be in a sour mood around the mad ape. "My liege?" Andross shrieked in laughter at the sound of Wolf's voice. "Look! Look!" he hopped around the table much like an excited hen as he pointed at it. Wolf raised a questioning eyebrow and leaned over to look at the table. On it was a picture of the McCloud family. It was obviously quite dated. Vixy and James held the infant Fox and Rita in their arms. "It's perfect!" crowed Andross. "You lost me." Muttered Wolf. Andross laughed again. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before!" "Think of what, my liege?" Andross was suddenly serious. "Her." He jabbed a finger at the image of the infant Rita. "She's the last thing he has of his family. So, she's not related, but they grew up together." He smiled evilly. "It'll be amusing to see what he does when we capture her. To get her back alive and relatively unharmed I'm certain he'd do almost anything we asked of him." Wolf grinned. He might actually get his chance to be alone with her! "I like this idea." Andross perked up a bit more. "Good! I want you and your boys to capture her. any way that you can. And make sure Fox McCloud knows who has her." "Yes, my liege!" Wolf saluted. "Dismissed." Andross turned back to gloat over the photo as Wolf walked out of the throne room. Rita buzzed into the Air Force base parking lot on her motor bike. Fara sat behind her screaming the whole way. She pulled into a parking space next to where Falco had just parked his motorcycle. Katt was wrapped around him seductively. "Okay. Off." He grumbled at her. She gave a short purr before hopping down.  
  
Fara had finally stopped screaming. "Woo! Let's do that again!" Rita took off her helmet and raised an eyebrow. "That was fun!" Fara beamed. Rita shook her head in amusement as she ran her fingers through her long hair. "You screamed the whole way." "100 miles per hour over the Bay Bridge at rush hour!" "We were only going 90." Fox stood in front of General Pepper's massive desk. The General sighed and steepled his fingers. "They're in position to attack just this side of Venom, but they haven't made any moves yet. They might be waiting for us to make the first move. So far I've instructed my forces not to attack, but if Andross makes a move to attack us they are to defend. I don't want to make the first move, if I did then we'll have started another war." "I understand." Said Fox. "However," continued the General, "I would like a team to get in as close as they can and see if they can tell if anything is going on over there." He leaned forward. "Do you have anyone in your group who could pull off something like that without setting off a war?" Fox wrinkled his brow. "Well. Rita used to spy for you during the first war. And Katt's pretty good at sneaking into places undetected." Pepper thought about this for a moment. "Alright, we'll see if those two can do it. and send Fara with them." Fox winced. Fara was anything but subtle, in fact she usually got into more trouble than Falco due to charging into a situation head first without knowing what she was getting into. He had to admit, though, that she'd been better about that lately. "Yes, sir." Fox saluted. "Good. And I want the rest of your team to stay on the front line of our forces just in case they ladies accidentally provoke Andross's forces." With that Pepper dismissed him. The rest of the StarFox team, Fara, and Katt were waiting outside of Pepper's office. "So what's the new, O' fearless leader?" questioned Falco as Fox exited the office. Fox sighed and briefly laid his ears back before bringing them upright again. "He wants the girls to run recon in the enemy forces to see if they can figure out what they're waiting for or tell what they're doing. The rest of us are to sit on the front lines in case they decide to attack our forces." Katt frowned. "Wait a minute. GIRLS run recon? You mean the three of us?" she pointed at Fara. Fox nodded and Katt groaned. "Did you happen to mention to the General that recon usually requires being sneaky?" she but emphasis on the word 'sneaky'. "Hey!" Fara crossed her arms. "I'm not that bad!" "You're about as subtle as a bull in a china shop." Stated Rita. "Look who's talking!" "At least I know when not to charge in with my lasers blazing!" The two vixens continued to squabble. "They're doing it again." groaned Slippy. Katt broke in. "Hey, girls! We've got some time before we have to do anything, so let's go shopping!" They glared back at her. "We're in the middle of something here!" snapped Fara. She turned back to Rita only to find her walking toward the exit. "Jya, ne!" Rita waved as she left. "Hey! Come back here!" Fara followed her out. Falco elbowed Fox. "Least Ri knows when to quit." "I don't like sending Fara with them. Sure, she's a great pilot, but recon and subility just are not her strong points." Fox crossed his arms and sighed. "I think you're just worried about Rita getting hurt." Said Peppy matter of factly. Fox sputtered then composed himself. "I've known her all my life! Of course I'm worried about her getting hurt!" Slippy nudged Peppy and gave him a 'told you so' look. Katt giggled then said, "You're kids are going to be so cute!" "Kids? What kids?" Fox looked momentarily panicked. "Yeah! What kids?" Rita's voice came from behind Fox. No one had seen her come back in. "The kids that the two of you are going to have!" Katt chirped, grinning ear to ear. Rita blushed bright red and Fox tried to look non-chalant. "News flash, Pinky, " Rita used one of Katt's least favorite nicknames, ".that would require the two of us actually having sex." She whispered loudly so everyone could hear. Fox turned a bright shade of crimson at the word 'sex'. "And we haven't." she finished then nodded as if she'd just passed on a great nugget of knowledge to her mis-informed friend. Katt turned a bit more pink then giggled. "That doesn't mean you won't!" then she ran as Rita lunged at her. General Pepper's laugh rang through the hallway. He'd been watching the entire time. Peppy sighed almost wistfully, "Ah, young love." Wolf and the rest of the StarWolf team sat in their fighters just behind the front lines of the Androssian forces. Wolf was watching all around intently. A spy working for Andross had gotten wind of the Cornerians plans to send the female portion of StarFox on a recon mission through the ranks where StarWolf was now waiting for them. All they had to do was wait for them to show up and give themselves away. then Rita would be his! The one-eyed lupine smiled smugly to himself as he thought of the things he would do with her once he had her safely behind closed doors. A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye brought his attention back to the situation at hand. He turned to look in the direction of the movement, but whatever it had been was gone now. He keyed his comm. "Leon, did you see something in sector three a moment ago?" Leon answered back almost immediately, "It looked like a fighter painted black. I caught a brief glimpse of a glint off the cockpit window." Wolf grinned. "I'm going to go check it out. The rest of you keep an eye our for anything else." Pigma snickered at Wolf's use of the phase 'keep an eye out'. He guided his Wolfen to 'sector three' which was really just the debris of and asteroid that had impacted with something much bigger eons ago. Carefully he scanned the area as he deftly maneuvered around the floating rocks. One by one he switched through his comm channels to see if he could pick up anything other than his own forces. On one channel he though he briefly heard a sigh. It sounded female, but he couldn't be sure. He left his comm on that channel and listened. Suddenly he realized that he could faintly hear someone talking. He switched the channel a fraction and it became clearer. ". stay hidden until you can make a run for it. Katt and I will join up later." Wolf grinned broadly as he recognized Rita's voice. It had gotten deeper and more feminine since he'd last heard it. Then he saw it. A black arwing was riding next to a large chunk of asteroid, doing a very good job of being inconspicuous. It only took him a second to realize that this must be Fara Phoenix's ship. "I think he found me." Came Fara's voice over the comm, confirming his ascertains. "He hasn't moved in a few minutes." "Wait a few more seconds to make sure then run." Rita sounded tense. "I'm on my way if you need some backup." Wolf chose that moment to open fire. Fara's arwing immediately came to life and she expertly dodged his shot, coming perilously close to some of the rocks in the process. He hadn't realized that Katt and Rita had been so close until a silver arwing with black g-diffusers buzzed past him and landed a few shots along the nose of his Wolfen. His prey had taken the bait. Almost immediately he pulled away from Fara's ship and went after the new arwing. A pink arwing was on top of him almost instantly. "GO! Get out of here!" Rita yelled over the comm as she and Wolf played cat and mouse among the debris. "Like Hell!" Katt shrieked back. "I'm not leaving you alone with HIM!" As Wolf chased Rita, Katt chased Wolf. Only when Fara screamed over the channel did Katt reluctantly pull away. The rest of StarWolf was giving the fennec vixen a run for her money. It was soon apparent that they were trying to chase Katt and Fara off. "GET OUT OF HERE!" Rita demanded again, then softly she added, "I'll be alright." "Dammit, Ri!" Katt half sobbed as she and Fara were forced to retreat. When her two teammates were safely out of range Rita powered down her ship and drifted. "I know you're listening, O'Donnell." She sounded calm. "Are you going to tell me what you want?" Wolf coasted beside her, but he stayed powered up. He laughed softly over the comm. "You." He saw her through her cockpit window, she gripped the flight controls tightly and had her eyes closed. After a few moments she answered. "I suppose I don't have much of choice, eh? If I run, your teammates'll just disable my ship." She glared at him through the canopy. Wolf was almost giddy with pleasure. He had her trapped and she either had to give up or they'd take her forcefully. A ragged sigh came over the comm. "You win. this time." Katt and Fara had just finished explaining the failed mission to Fox and were sobbing. Fox pounded on the wall in frustration, nearly putting his fist through the wall at one point. "Incoming transmission." ROB's voice echoed through the Great Fox. "Dammit!" Fox swore as he keyed the comm. His face darkened with hatred as Andross's face appeared on the screen. "Greetings, young McCloud!" he gloated. "By now you've probably heard that you're missing something. " He beamed. Somewhere in the background a woman yelled 'get your fat hands off of me, bacon-butt' then Rita was dragged in front of the comm. She was bound hand and foot and was held captive between Leon and Wolf. "Sorry, Fox! I'm sorry!" she managed to say before they hauled her off screen again. Andross's face returned and he looked overly pleased at the murderous look on Fox's face. "She hasn't been hurt. yet! But you'd better watch you step if you want to make sure she remains unharmed. Each time you make a move against me or my forces you'll get part of her back. but it won't be attached to the rest of her!" He cackled evilly then the connection went dead. Fox ripped a light fixture off the wall and threw it at the screen. He screamed in rage. Everyone stood back from him, slightly afraid of what he'd do. He turned to Fara and Katt who were clinging to each other and crying harder than before. "You left her there! YOU!" his voice was high pitched and tense with rage and grief. Fara sank down to the floor and clutched at Katt's knees. Katt had her fingers stuffed in her mouth as tears poured down her cheeks leaving dark trails in her fur. "You just RAN AWAY and LEFT HER!" he punched a hole in the wall and stormed out of the room. Peppy knelt down to comfort Fara as Falco tried to calm Katt down. "He doesn't mean it. He just doesn't know how to deal with this." Falco hugged Katt close to his chest as she sobbed. Peppy cradled Fara like a child and rocked her back and forth. Slippy watched the screen with a feeling of total helplessness. "I've never seen him like this." he said softly. "Not even when she took that bullet in the chest." He trailed off and looked down at his hands mildly surprised when tears started to fall from his cheeks onto them. They roughly escorted Rita down to a block of cells. It was surprisingly clean and bright, for a cellblock. She'd found herself shoved into a cell by herself. Wolf had stayed a while longer than the others and had promised to come back so they could 'get to know each other better'. She knew what he meant by that, and she wasn't looking forward to it. She found that she could look directly into the cell across from her own. Its inhabitant was a middle-aged fox who looked weak and seriously malnourished. He looked familiar, but he kept his head down and his face hidden so she couldn't be sure. Once a guard came in and threw a bowl of some evil looking slop into her cell. "LaShette, right?" he grinned a toothless grin at her. She refused to acknowledge his presence and he finally went away. But she'd seen the other prisoner lift his head and look at her briefly when her name had been said. The guard had been standing in the way so she hadn't gotten a clear look at him. When he was sure the guard was gone the prisoner inched closer to the door of his cell. Rita realized that he wasn't as weak as she'd originally thought. His prison garb just covered his malnourished frame. She guessed that if he'd been fed properly he'd be built like Fox. Fox! That's who he reminds me of! She realized that he was watching her watch him. "It's not polite to stare, Rita." His voice was strong and deep. She was on her feet instantly, knocking over the bowl of slime in the process. "DAD!?" Fox had rampaged around the Great Fox for a good hour. Eventually he found himself in Rita's room, curled up on her bed with one of her pillows clutched tightly to his chest. The faint smell of her perfume lingered on it and it helped to sooth his rage somewhat. It was a light scent, not quite floral. He couldn't figure out what it smelled like, but it made him think of fresh laundry and flowers. More than anything it made him think of Rita. He didn't know what to do. Rita was the last piece of his family that he had left, not counting Peppy, but that was different. But was saving the person he loved the most just reason to let millions suffer? He struggled with himself. He loved Rita dearly and didn't want anything to happen to her, but how could he just stand by and watch Andross destroy the lives of millions of innocent people? He knew he couldn't let that happen. And he cried as he felt that Rita's death would be on his hands. "I'm sorry, Ri." He cried into her pillow. "I love you more than anything. But I can't let Andross win and harm all the other people in Lylat. He has me trapped, either you die or many others will. Why did this have to happen?" Tears ran freely down his muzzle and soaked into the pillow. "And why didn't I have to courage to tell you that I loved you when you were here." The door opened quietly. Peppy softly cleared his throat. When he knew that Fox was listening he said, "General Pepper is on the comm. He says that since StarWolf open fired on our pilots first that we can mount a counter- attack." he trailed off and looked at Fox to see what the young leader would say. Fox sat up still clutching the pillow. Softly he said, "I'm about to kill the best friend I ever had." He took a deep breath then slowly let it out. "Andross has now killed the three people I loved the most. He's going to pay dearly." Rita pressed her face against the bars of her cell. James leaned against the bars of his as they talked. "We thought you were dead!" Rita sobbed. He sighed. "Apparently Andross has forgotten about me. Though there have been many times when I had wished to be dead." He trailed off when he saw the agonized look on her face. Briefly she explained how she'd been captured. "But I don't know why they wanted me." She finished, "Unless they're trying to use me as bait of some sort. But if that's their plan then why didn't they try to capture Katt and Fara too?" James thought for a moment. "I don't know." He finally answered. "But I don't like the way that O'Donnell fellow keeps looking at you." She looked at the floor the quietly told him about the time Wolf had tried to rape her in the Academy. James was furious. He slammed his fists against the bars. "If I ever get my hands on that disgusting low-life." he seethed.  
  
Rita twirled her necklace between her fingers. James saw it catch the light. "You still have that?" He asked staring at the gift he'd given her for her sixteenth birthday. "Of course. I've hardly been anywhere without it since you gave it to me." She looked at the ring shaped pendant. There were signs of wear from where she touched it often, and the chain had been replaced a year ago when the old one had finally snapped. She still had the broken chain; it was stored in a safe corner of her jewelry box. James sighed. "You've grown up so much. The last time I saw you, you were all pigtails, curls and bouncy ball of giggles. Now you're a mature woman." He stared at his knees and sighed again. "I've missed so much." Rita smiled, "Falco told me that when people tell a girl she's grown up a lot that what they really mean is 'gee your boobs have gotten big'!" He nearly choked then started laughing. "Ha! Made you laugh!" He smiled at her. "Gotta make the best of a bad situation, eh?" She nodded. "That's what you always told me to do." "So I did." Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Wolf. Blaster in hand he opened Rita's cell. James lunged against the bars of his cell, but a guard quickly sedated him with a stun gun. Wolf grabbed her wrist and yanked her off down the hall, despite her struggles. "Andross wants to see you." Was his only explanation. Within a matter of minutes she found herself face to face with the mad scientist. He gloated over his captive. "I've got something to show you!" he crowed. "ATTILA!" he bellowed. Rita blinked and rubbed her eyes as she watched herself walk into the room. Attila stopped a few feet in front of Rita. "Not too bad for only a few hours work, no?" Andross ran a hand down Attila's jawline. "Meet Attila. She an android copy of yourself." He pinched her arm and a red spot appeared. "Made ever more realistic with the addition of real skin, fur, and even blood!" He beamed proudly. Rita felt sick. Wolf stared at the android wide-eyed. Andross seized Rita's arm. "All that's needed now is for us to give her some of your personality." She decided she'd had enough of this horrid nightmare, so she fainted. Wolf caught her before she hit the floor. Andross just shrugged. "It'll be easier this way anyhow." Deftly he hooked Attila to a strange device via a cable. To the other side he strapped the unconscious Rita to a chair and connected some wires to her forehead and temples. "This won't hurt a bit!" He flipped a switch on the device. Wolf didn't notice anything happening until Attila cried out. Andross flipped the switch back then undid Attila's cable. A soft moan escaped from Rita. "Take that one back to her cell, O'Donnell." Wolf pulled the wires from her head and unstrapped her from the chair. He picked her up and carried her out of the lab. "And make sure she gets back to her cell with NO DETOURS!" Andross yelled after him. Wolf grumbled, but obeyed. He'd have his chance soon enough. Attila fell to her knees in front of Andross. "Unnh." she groaned. He voice was Rita's but pitched a bit higher. "How." she looked around "did I get here?" Andross frowned. He'd expected her to just pick up some of Rita's quirks to enable her to fool the StarFox team long enough for him to annihilate them. He hadn't expected her original programming to get overwritten. He sighed. There were ways around that problem; at least if she thought she was Rita she'd be convincing. She spotted Andross and screamed. "You killed Dad!" she accused then flung herself at him attempting to gouge out his eyes. Two guards rushed in and pulled her off him. He grinned. She thought she was Rita at about the age of sixteen. The he laughed. Attila started to cry. "Perfect!" he shouted. This was going to be fun after all. Andross beamed down at the hysterically sobbing Attila. Wolf sat in a chair glowering at him. "Oh, come on now, Wolf! You got a chance with Rita in bed, and now we have the perfect thing to torture the young McCloud with!" "It's not the same." He grumbled as a response. He'd enjoyed it at the time, but he couldn't forget the fact that it hadn't been Rita, not really anyway. "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out his darling little friend has been raped by you. Of course he'll never know that the real Rita is safely secured in a cell here." He lowered his voice, "And if you're more useful this time than you were the last time you went against StarFox, I might let you have her as a sign of gratitude." Rita thought her head was going to explode. She had no idea how long she'd been lying on the floor of her cell, but her head felt like it had been pounding for ages. Slowly it dawned on her that someone was calling to her. "RITA!" James was futilely reaching through the bars toward her. He sounded panicked. She could only respond by groaning softly as she tried unsuccessfully to sit up. It felt like the annual Cornerian Holiday Parade was marching across her skull so she just rolled onto her back then lay as still as she could. "Rita?" James called to her softly clutching at the bars. "Can you hear me? Rita?" She groaned in response, which was about all she could do. James talked to her for a while as her head slowly stopped aching. After a while she was able to respond to his questions with brief answers, though it still was nearly impossible for her to move. "What did that egomaniacal bastard do to you?" James demanded. Rita had finally managed to pull herself up onto the narrow bunk. "I don't remember. that last thing I saw was, well. me. But it wasn't really me. I don't think." She faltered as she tried to explain what she'd seen. "It was an android made to look just like me. But I don't know why." James frowned. "Fox." She started and nearly fell off the bunk. "But why?" "He's sadistic, Ri, he'll do anything to hurt anyone or anything connected to me." She thought she saw a tear run down his cheek. "He killed Vixy. The bomb was meant for me. He just couldn't stand it that she was my wife and that she loved me and not him." A few more tears fell from his eyes. "And now he's using you to hurt Fox just because Fox is my son, and he can't stand the fact that Vixy had my child. He told me that when he captured me. He said that he hadn't wanted to hurt Vixy in any way, but that me and my 'spawn' had to die for keeping her away from him." James lowered his face to his knees. "Oh, daddy." breathed Rita close to tears. Andross laughed to himself as he thought of the agony that he would cause Fox when he put Attila into action. The he laughed again as he thought of what Wolf would do to Rita when he finally let the one-eyed lupine have her. The young vixen's agony would be much more intense if he let Wolf's appetite go un-fed for a while. He wanted to hurt and destroy anything and everything that was connected to James McCloud. I did kill him, didn't I? Ah, well, wherever he is he's suffering greatly, thought the mad ape. He chuckled again as he keyed open a series of locks to the most private area of his lab. The interior of the room was kept dark except for the glow of bluish light coming from a large stasis tube in the center. The lighting design of the room didn't really serve and real purpose; Andross just liked that it gave the room that "creepy sci-fi flick" atmosphere. Floating in the transparent liquid of the stasis tube was Andross's most prized creation or re-creation as the case was. It was a cloned body, empty of a soul or personality and not quite alive yet. But he was going to change that soon. In a few more days his "on-staff" mystic, Ayamori, would have the ritual to call a soul into the body complete. It wasn't going to be just any soul either. He was going to resurrect Vixy Reinard. It was a shame that Aya's wife, Yuki, had hidden or killed their daughter the day she was born twenty years ago. Andross had run a pre-natal exam on Yuki and determined that the child would be far more powerful than both of her parents combined. She could have done the ritual in an instant and Andross wouldn't have had to wait. But there wasn't anything he could do about that. He'd toyed with the idea of having Rita in the room as the ceremony was preformed because he'd heard rumors that she'd shown signs of premonition and psychic tendencies. But he knew she'd probably cause more trouble than having the extra power in the room was worth. He gazed at his creation. It was the body of a beautiful vixen; blonde haired and hazel eyed. An exact copy of the original Vixy, created from a few strands of her hair he'd collected from her corpse at the morgue. He stroked the glass affectionately. This would be his final insult to the name of James McCloud. Ayamori Shea stomped around the living quarters he shared with his wife, Yuki, and four-year-old daughter, Morrigan. "I can't believe this!" He half- shrieked at his wife. "If you hadn't felt the inane need to play the saint and hide our daughter then we'd be all done with this by now!" Yuki hugged Morrigan tightly to her breast. "You don't know that." She countered. "You weren't entirely sure that she would've had any power, let alone more than you and I!" "BUT SHE MIGHT HAVE BEEN! Even if she wasn't all that powerful she would've still been a major help to me." He clutched his fists tightly as he explained. "Every little bit helps, I suppose you've heard that phrase before, haven't you, dearest?" he let out a short laugh at the use of his favorite nickname for her. The joke to him was that they despised each other with a passion. "She's not dead, and you know that." Yuki's voice was barely above a whisper. Aya laughed again. "I know that. but I can't find her! And she's missed several valuable years of training and instruction! If she hasn't had any help she'll be completely useless." He continued to rant on into the early hours of the morning. Yuki was to terrified to leave his presence and Morrigan finally fell asleep in her mother's arms. Rita's dreams were troubling. She hadn't really slept well since her capture, but this night was the worst because she could not wake up and end the nightmares. She saw Vixy next to her, silently pleading for help. But her voice wasn't audible and Rita didn't know what she was asking for. Around the two vixens macabre images swirled like a thick mist. Again and again she saw Andross's decapitated and laughing head followed by nightmare images of Wolf brutally raping her. She shuddered and hoped that it wasn't a portent of things to come. So far she'd managed to thwart all of his attempts at forcing himself on her, and she didn't plan to let him in the future either. More scenes flashed past them. She saw Fox and cringed. He knelt in front of a dark throne; her body was draped on the steps going up to the throne like a rag doll. Somewhere Andross was laughing. Finally she saw James lying lifeless on the floor with Vixy clinging to him and crying on his chest. The Vixy that stood beside her jerked her arm and pointed at the vision desperately. Rita blinked at the impossible scene. Dad's still alive and Mom died years ago. this is impossible! Why can't I wake up!? All the visions swirled about them faster and faster. Vixy vanished and Andross's laughter boomed around her. She felt something at her feet, and looked down. Andross's head grinned back up at her. James jerked awake as Rita's screams echoed through the cellblock. Several guards rushed into the vicinity then left grumpily when they realized that it had been the result of nightmares. Rita spent the rest of the night with her knees tucked up to her chin wrapped in her one ratty blanket. James talked to her about various things hoping to distract her so she could finally get some restful sleep. The android Attila had been put in a separate cellblock from James and Rita. She lay in a ball on the floor sobbing endlessly. After Wolf's abuse of her Andross had given the guards permission to use her in any way they liked. He giggled to himself at the agony he knew her fragile mental state would cause Fox. And he laughed as he imagined Fox's reaction when he heard about the abuse she'd been through. Now all he had to do was find a way for her to get to StarFox without it seeming too obvious. Attila still thought she was Rita, although if someone had observed her for a long enough period of time they would have noticed several differences in mannerisms between the original and the copy. And Attila wanted to die. To Be Continued. 


	3. Part Three

Rita's Story: Part 3  
  
By: Rita LaShette Warning! Rated PG-13 for adult situations, language, and violence. Don't say I didn't warn you. ~*~ Big Momma's Place was a popular hangout for the mercenaries and miscellaneous persons from the dregs of Lylat's population. The establishment was nestled into the side of an asteroid floating somewhere in the no-man's land between the areas controlled by Andross and Corneria. It was an ideal place for parties from either side of the war to get together to "socialize". Big Momma didn't mind if fights broke out every so often... as long as no one got killed... and someone paid for the repairs. No one wanted to piss of Big Momma, and having authorities from either government knocking on her door would really be asking for it. "Glad you could make it, Fox." Wolf O'Donnell spat out the name as if it left a disgusting taste in his mouth. The one-eyed lupine grinned at the seething pilot standing in front of him. Fox's attention was split between his rival and the sobbing vixen that the other members of the Star Wolf team were holding hostage behind their leader. She tried to reach for him, but Leon yanked her back to the floor roughly. She cried out in pain. Wolf's grin widened. "Andross doesn't have any more use for her... so he's letting you have her back." He rubbed his cheek below his eye patch. "What did you do to her?" growled Fox between clenched teeth. "Oh, Rita-darling," Wolf reached behind and dragged the sobbing girl to her feet. "Why don't you tell him." He ran a hand down her throat and let it come to rest on the swell of her breast. She whimpered as if the act caused her tremendous physical pain. Fox let out a scream of primal rage and threw himself at Wolf. Falco intercepted the enraged vulpine before he landed on his opponent. Laughing, Wolf shoved Rita at them, then turned and walked away still chuckling softly to himself. Fox pushed Falco away roughly and fell to his knees pulling the vixen into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed loudly into his chest. Falco shuffled his feet uncomfortably while he contrived many slow and excruciatingly painful ways to have Wolf castrated. Peppy watched the sleeping vixen curled up like a scared child on the examining table in the med bay of the Great Fox. He could sense that something wasn't quite right about her. Cursing himself silently for doubting her he walked over to a control console set into the wall next to the table. Punching a few buttons he spoke to the computer unit, "Run DNA scan on patient." He didn't know why, but something in the back of his head told him that this was the quickest way to get an answer to his questions. A wide green band of light swept slowly across the sleeping figure on the table. Peppy jerked in surprise as the mechanical voice of the computer reported. "Patient unknown. Unknown android type. All biological components identical to Rita LaShette." "What!?" "Patient unknown," repeated the computer. "Unkno..." "I heard that!" Peppy yelled at the console. There was the soft sound of someone taking a deep breath behind him. He turned to find Slippy's wide eyes staring at him wider than usual. "B-b-but..." stammered the amphibian pointing at the 'sleeping' android on the table. Peppy glanced at Rita's double. "I don't know, Slip. And I really don't want to be around when Fox finds out." "Me either." "Well I'M not telling him." Falco boomed from the doorway. "He's ballistic enough as it is. I'm in no mood to be anywhere near him when he hears this. I don't even wanna be on the same side of the solar system!" "What about her... um, it?" Slippy asked pointing at the android on the examination table. Peppy scratched his chin. "Well... we ought to find a way to deactivate it until we find out if it's dangerous to us or not." Falco snorted and crossed his arms. "It's dangerous to us just because it's NOT Rita. Fox is gonna go ape-shit and use our heads as punching bags." He walked over to her and knocked on her head. Slippy smacked him. "You'll wake her up, stupid!" The avian pulled Slippy's hat over his eyes. "If she acts as much like Rita as she looks like Rita, then nothing short of a small nuclear explosion is gonna wake her up." Peppy gave Falco a withering look. "In all likelihood this is the work of Andross. Who else could have done this? And we just don't know how she... er... it has been programmed. We'd best find a way to deactivate her. And fast!" Slippy was already running an x-ray on the android. He pointed to a spot on the x-ray monitor near the base of her neck. "I think what we're looking for is right there." Falco looked at the jumble of wires lacing through the organic tissue on the monitor. "How can you tell?" "I'm an engineer!" bragged Slippy. Peppy peered at the monitor. "Do you mean that switch that says 'off'?" Slippy stood poised over the android with a scalpel in hand. "Why do I have to do this?" he whined. "Because you're an engineer." Smirked Falco. The amphibian gave him a dirty look before returning his full attention to the task in front of him. "Hurry up before it wakes up, Flippy." "Go away, Falco..." he tried to ignore the irritating avian as he made an incision in the back of the android's neck. She jerked awake. "What are you doing!?" she screamed in horror. Falco pinned her down as Slippy desperately poked around for the 'off' switch. Finally he found it and turned her off with a sigh of relief. Slippy stared at the blood covering the surgical gloves on his hands. "All this blood kinda makes me queasy..." Fox burst into the room swaying on his feet somewhat unsteadily. "What's going on in here!? What are you doing!?" his voice cracked in rage. Slippy ducked behind Falco. "I thought you said that stuff'd knock him out for hours." He whispered. "Apparently I was wrong..." Falco looked around for something to defend himself with, but found nothing. Fox stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted the unmoving body on the examination table. The blood on the back of her neck hadn't begun to dry yet. "What have you done?" His voice was a hoarse whisper. "What have you done to her!?" he screamed and stumbled forward. His forward progress was abruptly halted when Falco's fist slammed into his jaw. He slumped to the floor with a whimper. Falco dragged him to his feet and forced him to look him in the eyes. "Listen to me, Fox. That is not Rita. Andross slipped up a double." "What?" Fox glared angrily at his friend. Falco sighed. "That woman... no... That thing over there is an android. We deactivated her until we can figure out what kind of twisted plan Andross had in mind this time." He let Fox slide to the floor. "Why... why?" He slammed his fist into the floor. "He's messing with us." Peppy appeared in the doorway. "He knew that this would happen. Don't you see? Andross found a weak spot and is exploiting it." The aging hare helped Fox up and started to lead him back to his room. "Come on, Fox. You need some rest." Falco turned to Slippy as the other two left. "Now what?" "I don't know much about this sort of stuff." He admitted. "My specialty is in stuff like Arwings, the landmaster, and the blue marine... I think I should let my dad take a look at this." Peppy tucked Fox into bed as he had done when he was a pup. "I need to say something to you, Fox. I realize that this might upset you, but it needs to be said." He sighed softly then continued. "I don't know how much Rita means to you. I know you tow have feelings for each other that are deeper and more real than anything I've ever felt or sensed before. Seeing you two together is like watching a modern day fairy tale where the hero and heroine will live 'happily ever after'... though without the mushy embarrassing stuff..." "I don't do public mushiness." Peppy could see the sadness in Fox's eyes. "Anyway..." Peppy stared at his hands folded neatly in his lap. "I and the others want Rita back too, but we have to realize that she might not... might not be coming back." He sighed deeply. "I know you're hurting, Fox. You've been on the receiving end of a lot of crap in your lifetime. You've had to deal with more than any person should have to deal with at your age... or at any age." Fox was glowering at him. "There is a point to this, yes?" "Yes... I'm getting there. This isn't easy for me, Fox. Please think about what I'm going to say next." He gave Fox a pleading look. "You're young yet, Fox. If Rita doesn't come back to us, and you continue being angry at everything around you, then you will become a very very bitter man. Andross way angry and bitter when your mother refused him and married your father, and look where all his bitterness has led. Andross was bitter a lot of things though... Just don't push everyone else away because you're hurting. You need your friends' support. They need your support." He ran his fingers through his graying fur. "This isn't coming out quite right..." Tears began to run down Fox's cheeks as he stared up at the ceiling. "Rita would be so disgusted if she'd seen the way I've been acting..." Peppy stared at him. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell..." Beltino Toad walked around the table that the android was laid out on. "Hmm..." he poked at the incision on the back of her neck. "Interesting..." He turned to face the group assembled behind him. They waited anxiously. "It's an android!" he declared happily. Slippy groaned. "Dad! We already knew that!" "Oh..." Beltino turned around again and made another incision in the android, this time at the base of her skull. Carefully using a pair of tweezers he removed an object from the new incision. He held it triumphantly above his head. "What is that?" Falco's question sounded more like a demand. "The main control chip." Beltino beamed happily. "The what?" Falco eyed him dubiously. "He means that it's the thing that controls her," explained Slippy. "I knew that..." "It contains all her programming. Pretty small. Impressive really." Beltino was as excited as a small child with a new toy. "I can't wait to examine this!" Fox quietly detached himself from the rest of the group and walked over to the deactivated android as Beltino continued rambling on about his newest 'toy'. Sighing gently to himself he twisted a strand of her hair through his fingers. Looking at her now he could see several differences between her and Rita. Her arms and legs were to skinny, she lacked the definition that Rita had built up through years of working out. The angle of her jaw was too sharp: Rita's face had retained some of its girlish roundness into adulthood, it was what made her cute but prevented her from ever being one of the great beauties of her time. She would probably be considered pretty by the time that she hit middle age... if she lived that long. Fox felt the urge to cry well up in his chest. A hand gently touched his shoulder. General Pepper looked at him for a moment. "We'll get her back, Fox. I know we will." Fox stared at his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. "This is going to sound weird, but... it was easier when she was in that coma. At least then I could be by her side..." A tear ran down his cheek leaving a moist trail in his fur. He reached out and gently took the android's hand in his. It was cold. Rita sighed and rolled over on the narrow bunk in her cell. Bored. So bored. Really really bored... It was late and she couldn't sleep. She hadn't slept in days; her dreams had become more and more disturbing. She concentrated on the sound of James's breathing across the hall from her. It was deep and the even rhythm comforted her and helped her to relax somewhat. The relaxed feeling abandoned her suddenly at the sound of someone opening the door to the cellblock. Footsteps echoed down the hall as they moved closer to her cell. Rita tried to act like she was asleep, but her heart pounded in her chest. She was certain that whoever was coming would be able to hear it. The footsteps stopped in front of her cell, and she could hear one booted foot tapping the floor impatiently. "I know you're not sleeping, dearest." She cringed at the sound of Wolf's voice. He laughed as he noticed her slight flinch. In a fit of desperation she tried to make herself as small as possible, even though she knew it was useless. Wolf laughed again, but softly this time, as he unlocked her cell. She jerked up as she heard the door open. He clamped his hand over her mouth before she got the chance to scream. "What's the use? No one here is going to help you." He grinned as he bent down and placed his mouth on the curve of her neck. She let out a muffled cry and clawed as his face. He immediately released her and took a step back. An enraged look slowly spread across his face. "Bitch!" he spat out the word. "You should be happy that I still want you." He slapped her hard. Rita's head snapped back and slammed into the wall with a loud thunk. The noise woke James and he lurched out of his bunk and pressed himself against the bars of his cell. "Leave her alone!" His deep voice boomed in the almost empty cellblock. Wolf turned quickly on his heel to face James. He narrowed his good eye at the aging fox. "Just who are you anyway, old man?" He was annoyed by the interruption. James snarled at him. Wolf's eye widened with recognition then he laughed. "You're Fox's old man aren't you? Why aren't you dead?" He grabbed Rita by her long hair and dragged her struggling from her cell. Laughing he shoved her against the bars of James's cell. "Say goodbye to her. Next time you see her she won't be quite so innocent." He laughed in a way that left no doubts about what his intentions were. He confirmed this by pulling her against him and cupping one of her breasts in his free hand.  
  
Rita retaliated by stomping on his foot as hard as she could, which would have been more effective it he hadn't been wearing steel-toed boots. None the less it still hurt and he shoved her into a wall. Her head cracked against it and she slumped to the floor. James lunged for Wolf through the bars, but the lupine took a step back so the he was just out of reach. Laughing he picked up the semi-conscious vixen and threw her over his shoulder. "Andross decided that I could have her, so I'm taking her." With that he swaggered out of the cellblock with Rita sprawled over his shoulder. James yelled obscenities after him. After several moments he sagged to his knees with his forehead pressed to the cool metal of the bars. A feeling of helplessness and inadequacy swept over him. I couldn't help her! Just like I couldn't help Vixy! He slammed his fists into the floor until his knuckles were bloody. Then he sunk into a fetal position and cried, wishing he were dead. Rita felt something wet and cool touch her face. She struggled to wake up, slightly panicked. Her eyes snapped open, at first all she could see were blurred colors. Slowly they became clearer and she realized that Wolf was standing over her pressing a damp washcloth to her forehead. "Are you alright? You've been out of it for quite a while." He lifted the cloth from her forehead and brushed some stray hairs out of her eyes. She swatted at his hand. "You threw me into a wall you jerk!" Wolf had the good sense to look embarrassed. Sighing he sat down next to her on the bed. "I'm sorry, Rita." "You're sorry!?" She sat up angrily ignoring the sudden throbbing in her head as she did so. In disgust she yanked the sheet up to her chin and used her foot to unseat Wolf. He landed on the floor unceremoniously. Grumbling he got to his feet and glared down at her. "Would you stop being so difficult?" She glared back at him. He slowly lowered his face until it was level with hers, his hands rested on the bed on either side of her hips. Wordlessly he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her as tenderly as he could. Rita's heart pounded wildly. Fear and revulsion mixed with other more physical responses overwhelmed her. Wolf took her momentary confusion as a go-ahead to go further. Before she knew what was happening she found herself on her back with Wolf on top of her. His hands were gently trying to pry the sheet from her grasp. Rita's self-defense mechanism finally kicked in and she kicked out. Wolf jumped back and swore profusely. "How the hell did you do that!?" he screamed while rubbing the sore spot between his shoulder blades. "Don't touch me again." She growled low in her throat, and pulled the sheet closer to her. Even though she was fully clothed she felt less vulnerable with the thin material surrounding her. Wolf snarled then ripped the sheet out of her grasp. Throwing it aside he then seized her by the arm and undid her belt in one swift movement. She screamed and used her free hand to try to claw his face. He slapped her hard enough to make her ears ring. Using her momentary confusion to his advantage he managed to strip her down to her underclothes. Rita renewed her struggles certain that she was about to be raped. But Wolf dragged her through a door near the foot of the bed. She realized it was a bathroom and she stopped fighting him so vigorously. Wolf kept a hand clamped on her wrist as he ran some water into the bathtub. "Get in." He ordered gesturing to the now full tub. "Leave." She responded. She had no intention of bathing while he watched. Wolf's temper was frayed and he was in no mood to argue with her. Keeping a firm grasp on her wrist he bent down and grabbed her knee. Rita kicked at him with her free leg, an action that sent them both sprawling into the tub. Hot water closed over her head and went up her nose. Sputtering she surfaced and saw Wolf sitting at the other end of the tub with his legs hanging over the edge. He looked pissed. Rita laughed at him anyway, and he gave her a wary look. "You just won't cooperate will you?" he snapped, struggling to get up and failing miserably. He finally managed to get out of the water, then turned and shoved Rita's head back under. She came back up coughing. Wolf pushed her under a second time, then let her sputter indignantly. "You've been in that cell a long time... Gods know when you last had a bath." She finally stopped coughing and glared up at him feeling self-conscious knowing that wet underwear were hardly any protection from the prying eyes of a potential rapist. He sighed and pointed to a bottle. "There's the shampoo. Soap's behind you. The towels are on the shelf." He turned and left. Rita stuck her tongue out at him, as he closed the door. She waited several minutes before stripping off her bra and panties, then leaned back and let the warm water soother her tired body. After scrubbing thourally she drained the water and toweled herself dry. It was then that she realized she had no clothes. She sagged and wrapped the towel around herself as tightly as she could. Taking a deep breath she opened the door a tiny fraction and peered into the room. The door was almost immediately ripped from her fingers by Wolf. "You sure took your time!" Rita wrapped her arms around her body to keep the towel from slipping. "Where are my clothes?" she glared at him. He growled and rolled his eye in frustration. With a few quick strides he walked to the other side of the room and pulled a large tee shirt out of a drawer and handed it to her. She accepted it warily. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" "Enjoying this!? You are the most stubborn woman I've ever met!" "Maybe you should take the hint then!" "Dammit, Rita! I love you! Why won't you accept that!" For a moment she thought she saw a tear sparkle in the corner of his good eye. She gave him a look that could have curdled milk. "Love? You call this love?" She backed away from him. "You're a sick twisted... You almost killed me!" "That wasn't meant for you!" "You beat me..." "Rita!" "How many times have you tried to rape me!?" a hysterical edge entered her voice. He held a hand out to touch her, but she remained out of reach. "I love you... Every time I've been with a woman it was you I was thinking of." "Argh! I could've lived without that little piece of knowledge. Thankyouverymuch!" "I love you!" "I hate you..." Time seemed to slow down. The look in Wolf's good eye changed from sadness and desperation to a foggy and unreadable gleam. In that moment Rita finally understood. Wolf's childhood had been miserable. He had been beaten and abused by his parents, and had witnessed his father beat his mother and baby sister to death. His father had only served a short prison sentence before he was released and regained custody of his young son. The abuse grew worse without the others around for the elder O'Donnell to take his drunken rages out on. Finally Wolf found a way to escape from his father. He applied to the Academy and was accepted. A few months later Wolf was pulled out of class and given the news that his father had been found dead. A local illegal moneylender had murdered him. Wolf didn't even bother to go to the funeral. Rita finally understood just how badly the childhood trauma had affected Wolf. Children learn from their parents after all. Part of him yearned for the unconditional love and comfort of another being. But inside him something was twisted. He'd never really seen a loving relationship between two people, all he knew was abuse. Something inside of him said that he could make her love him, if not, he could beat it into her. She couldn't hate him now. Fear? Hell yeah! Rita was terrified of him, more so now than ever. She felt pity for him too, and somewhere deep inside of her was the desire to comfort him and show him what love really was. She knew she could never love him, and nothing she could ever say to him would be enough to convince him to see life in a different light. Rita knew she was going to be in a whole lot of pain very soon. Wolf knew this feeling and he hated it, but he let it control him anyway. Only a tiny fraction of coherent thought remained in his mind. Just enough to keep himself from falling into the abyss of complete madness. He had truly believed that she did love him but refused to admit it. He loved her... She was supposed to love him too! He felt betrayed. Rita... love me! Why don't you love me!? Rita felt strangely calm. Even as his hands closed around her neck and his thumbs pressed into her windpipe she found that she could not hate him. She wanted to. Contrary to popular belief strangulation is not a quick way to kill someone. If you are trying to kill someone you had better keep a damn tight grip on their throat long after they've stopped twitching. It takes quite a bit of work to even make someone go unconscious this way. Fortunately for Rita Wolf was neither trying to kill her or make her pass out. His grip loosened and she could breathe again. To Rita it felt like the room was spinning. Air rushed back into her lungs as she gasped for breath. She thought she felt Wolf support her as she sank to her knees. He lifted her up and placed her on the bed, kissing her forehead. His rage was gone but he wasn't done with her yet. Gently he unwound the towel from her body. She had no other choice but to let him. Her muscles felt like pudding; she could barely lift an arm let alone fight him off. She tried to ignore the feeling of his hands and mouth on her body. Fight back, stupid! Fight back! Your ass is gonna get raped if you don't do something! Her head was beginning to pound again. Little flashes of light danced in front of her eyes as she tried to push him away. The one mercy that Rita got was that he didn't drag it out and it was over with quickly. Compared to her other aches and pains it didn't hurt too badly... physically. Wolf buried his face into the pillow beside her and cried out her name. Rita willed herself into unconsciousness. She didn't know how long she had slept, but she felt better by the time she woke up. However her sore and bruised muscles had tightened up and ached horribly. Wolf was gone and the door was locked from the outside. Rita rolled out of the bed and immediately had to fight back the urge to throw up. There was a large bloodstain in the sheets. Her blood. Checking quickly she found blood dried on the insides of her thighs. Gagging she ran to the bathroom. It took her several minutes to calm down enough to run water into the bathtub. Her hands were still shaking as she lowered herself into the warm water. After she'd finished bathing she peeked out into the bedroom again. Someone had straightened things while she had been in the bathroom, but had left before she had finished. The sheets on the bed had been changed and some neatly folded women's clothes sat at the foot of the bed. The knee-length green dress was a few sizes to big for her and the bra was a cup size too small, but it was wearable. Overall the outfit made her look like a little girl trying on her mother's clothes. It took her several minutes to locate a comb in the drawer next to the sink. A few of Wolf's hairs were caught in the teeth of the comb. After picking them out she set to work trying to untangle her crimson locks. She didn't care how she looked, but she hated it when her hair was all in knots. Someone cleared their throat behind her. Startled she whirled around into a defensive pose, only to find herself face to face with Leon Powalski. He made a disgusted half-laugh deep in his throat. Rita didn't relax her stance. Desperately she looked around for a way to escape, but Leon stood directly in the path of the only escape route. "What do you want?" she hissed at him, forcing a bravado into her voice that she did not feel. The strange chameleon frightened her worse than Wolf ever would. The again, Wolf didn't get his kicks from torturing people either. "Enjoy your little sleepover?" He took a step closer to her. "Hmm... you look rather tomboyish to me." He cocked his head to one side in a manner that made Rita's skin crawl and her fur stand on end. "Heh! Pretty girls are supposed to look delicate and feminine. Only thing feminine about you is your voice... and that scrawny little waist. 'Course I'm not the one sleeping with you..." Leon narrowed his eyes at her. "The long hair makes you look like a little kid..." With that parting insult he turned on his boot heel and left. She yelled after him, "What are you? My personal fashion consultant?" A slamming door was the only response she received. Leon's comments were meant to make her feel insecure, but had only succeeding pissing her off. Rita slumped down beside the tub and took a deep breath. Slowly she let it out trying to calm herself. She took another deep breath, then screamed. Leon had noticed a change in Wolf that morning. He seemed calmer and almost happy. He hadn't even yelled as loudly as he usually did when Pigma ate everything in the kitchen before anyone else had gotten up. But Wolf was also more alert. This intrigued the mysterious lizard; he wanted to know what was so special about that overdeveloped tomboy of a vixen that Wolf was so taken with. Rita's reaction to his presence pleased him immensely, the smell of fear practically oozed from her. He knew what had happened the night before; the entire StarWolf team knew. Despite all that had happened to her a gleam of defiance still shone in her eyes. This still didn't get Leon any closer to a desirable answer. From what Leon knew about his leader he didn't think that Wolf was the kind of guy who went for personality over looks. And that girl has got plenty of personality... a little shy in the looks department... Wolf usually only goes for the really gorgeous ones. He knew there was something about her that he just wasn't seeing. Rita paced across the small room for what seemed like the billionth time to her. There was absolutely nothing for her to do to keep her mind occupied while she was locked up in Wolf's room, except to look at porno magazines or fold his laundry. Neither option sounded the least bit attractive to her. She turned to pace back the other way when something caught her eye. The bottom drawer of the dresser was half-open, inside of it sat a locked box. She pulled it out of the drawer, not really knowing why she did so. After examining the lock she found that it come undone easily by applying a small amount of pressure on either side of it. The lid popped open and a plethora of photos and newspaper clippings fell out and scattered on the floor. Gingerly, as if handling a poisonous snake, she picked one off the tope of the pile. Her heart nearly stopped when she looked at it. She reached into the pile and picked out two more photos and a piece of newspaper. A sick feeling started in her stomach and she fought back the urge to gag as she looked at them. Shaking she spread the pile out around her and looked at them in horrified fascination. They were all of her... She hadn't known that the majority of these pictures had existed. One by one she looked at each one with a growing sense of unease. Wolf was even more twisted than she had previously thought. Where did he get all of these? Lost in her thoughts she didn't hear the door open and Wolf walk in. She didn't even realize he was there until he touched her shoulder. At his touch Rita screamed and had herself flattened into the nearest corner in an instant. Without saying a word he knelt down and very carefully began to gather up all the pictures. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he put them back in the box. "It's not polite to go through other people's things, love." He smiled at her. "You wanted me to find those..." her voice was barely above a whisper and had a raw edge to it. He dropped the last of the pictures into the box then slid it under the bed. His grin widened. With one quick movement he was face to face with her. Not even attempting to be gently he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her hard enough to bruise her lips. In her confusion he had managed to get her into a position where she couldn't knee him in the groin. Hoping to startle him into giving her a chance to get away she leaned into him and briefly kissed back. Unfortunately this only gave him room to get his arms around her. Rita began to panic. In this position there was nothing she could do to defend herself; in kick boxing you had to have some space between you and your opponent or you would kick past them. She found a little comfort in the knowledge that she could kick him between the shoulder blades again if he tried to rape her. Once she was one her back... pow! She had learned that little trick when she was much younger while wrestling with Fox... only she never kicked Fox hard enough to make it hurt. Wolf moved down to kiss her neck. He nuzzled her cheek gently then looked her in the eyes. "Are you going to make love to me willingly or do I have to force you again?" His voice was soft and almost seductive. Rita resisted the urge to say 'fuck you'. It seemed like a poor insult, especially since that was exactly what he wanted to do. Instead she sank her teeth into his shoulder and gave a low menacing growl. He didn't swear, heck he didn't even flinch. Something pricked the back of her neck and she felt her muscles start to go limp. "You're going to regret doing that... " his voice was a hiss. It was a horrible feeling. She could see, hear, and feel everything that was happening to her, but she could not fight back. He dug his nails into her flesh hard enough to draw blood. She could feel the bruises starting to form where he hit her, grabbed too hard, and in her most sensitive areas. He was deliberately trying to hurt her. His scent lay heavily in her nose. It overpowered her and made her want to throw up, but she couldn't. Even after he left her the scent hung heavily in the air. Rita lay awake for a long time wishing she could get up and be sick in the bathroom. Eventually she drifted off into a fitful sleep, waking every half-hour or so. Sometimes Wolf was there beside her or above her, other times the rooms was mercifully empty. When she finally woke up for good she could move but her entire body felt as heavy as lead, and the places where Wolf had hurt her the night before either throbbed in a dull pain or burned like fire. She could still smell Wolf's scent on her, but it wasn't as cloying as it had been. Her stomach rolled and she fell out of bed and stumbled to the small bathroom. Her stomach heaved and relieved itself of its contents until it was as empty as Rita felt. Groaning, Rita sank to her knees and leaned back against the sink. Slowly, to avoid aggravating any of her injuries, she drew her knees up to her chest and wished she could cry. But the tears wouldn't come. A hand caressed her hair, startling her. She knew it was Wolf and buried her face further into her knees. He sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms in a surprisingly gentle manner. She tried to pull away but he tightened his grip causing her to cry out in pain. Wolf relished having this kind of power over Rita. Seeing her hurt, helpless and hearing her pitiful yelp of pain stirred desire from deep within him. She had managed to wrap herself in a bed sheet as she'd stumbled to the bathroom. Wolf now grasped a corner of the sheet and began to untangle her from it. She pushed him away, ignoring the renewed pain in her body as she did so. This only heightened Wolf's desire and he began to laugh softly as she struggled to push him away. The sheet slipped down exposing her shoulders and most of one breast. Wolf grabbed her by the back of the neck and twined his fingers into her hair. He managed to get her on her back without releasing his hold on her hair. Breathing heavily, almost panting, he buried his face in her neck and kissed her passionately. Rita went limp and hoped that he'd lose interest if she didn't react in any way at all. Wolf took Rita's sudden lack of resistance as compliance and untangled his hand from her hair. He also became less cautious. "Has my wild little vixen finally been tamed?" he whispered into her ear. As if! Rita managed to glance over his shoulder for a moment to see Leon standing in the doorway watching the proceedings with a sadistic grin plastered on his face. Behind him Andrew and Pigma jostled each other quietly trying to get a better view. Wolf moved into the perfect position and Rita decided to make her move. Get a load of this, you twisted sickos, she thought. She gathered every ounce of energy, rage and anger that she could muster. Feeling the adrenaline make her heart skip a beat she brought her knee up between Wolf's legs with as much force as possible. He screamed in pain and Rita managed to throw him to one side and scramble to her feet. Hoping to use the momentary confusion that ensued she charged straight at Leon then dodged around the side of him at the last minute. Pigma was too slow to catch her and Andrew was easy to knock over with a quick swipe at his knees. The door was open just as she had hoped. Jumping over the couch in the living area she silently gave thanks that she had managed to keep a tight grip on the sheet that was her only covering. She could hear Leon crashing around behind her as she reached the outer door. She knew that once she got out of this confined space that she would have a far better chance of escaping him. Keying the door she sped out into the hallway. . and came to a screeching halt. A dozen heavily armed guards stood in a semi-circle facing the door. All of them were pointing guns at her. Leon's arms closed around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Trapped again. Immediately she twisted, kicked and screamed trying to get free. Leon simply picked her up until she couldn't reach the floor, giving her a lot less weight to throw around. While trying to free an arm she kicked at his knees with her heels, but her feet were bare and Leon was wearing boots with knee guards. Leon gritted his teeth and tried not to let the pain of the vixen's kicks to his knees show in any way in his demeanor. He was going to have trouble walking tomorrow. After several moments she felt completely drained and could only resist half-heartedly. Leon set her back down on her feet, but didn't lessen his hold on her any. "Remind me not to piss you off when you're fully healthy."  
  
Pigma finally waddled up to the group and looked around a little disappointedly. Squealing slightly he pulled one of Rita's ears in a mockingly affectionate way. He jumped back as she snarled and snapped at him. Wolf half leaned-on half-dragged Andrew up to Leon and Rita. Rage simmered in Wolf's good eye as he glowered at the defiant vixen. "You." he growled as he reached for her. Leon deftly kept her out of Wolf's reach. "Andross wants to see her." Was his curt explanation as his team leader scowled at him. Wolf narrowed his eye at her as if Andross's order were somehow her fault. He took a few steps closer but was knocked back as Rita's foot slammed into his jaw. "She's a little hell-cat, that one." murmured one of the guards. The half-circle of guards parted on one side and Andross strode into the center, the gap in the ranks closing behind him. He studied the scene before him for a moment then began to laugh softly. "It seems that she's still got a little fight left in her after all!" Suddenly he was solemn as he turned on Wolf. "I distinctly remember you saying that she'd become more docile and compliant after a few days with you." His voice was accusatory. Wolf wiped the trickle of blood that had formed off his chin with the back of his hand. "She's a bit more stubborn than I thought, my liege." His voice was laced with thinly veiled annoyance. Andross motioned for Leon to turn Rita over to him. As soon as his hand closed around her upper arm she sank her teeth into it. He yelped in surprise as he let her go, then backhanded her across the face. Rita collapsed into a heap on the floor, completely exhausted, though defiance still shone in her eyes as she glared up at Andross. He examined the teeth marks on his hand as blood began to well up and trickle out of the pierced flesh. Then he glared down at her, completely forgetting about his hand. "Leon, bring her." His order was curt. As Leon stooped to pull Rita to her feet Andross turned to Wolf once more. "Don't forget that this tiny little female was the one who made you look like a fool, Wolf. You've been too confident lately. Perhaps you've learned something useful from this." With that he marched off down the hall with Leon half-carrying Rita, and the guards in tow. ~*~ 


End file.
